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PRISON-LIFE 



TOBACCO WAREHOUSE 



/^R^ICHMOND. 



BY A BALL'S BLUFF PEISONER, 
LIEUT. WM. C, HARRIS, 

OF COL. BAKER'S CALIFORNIA REGIMENT. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

GEORGE W. CHILD S, 

628 & 630 CHESTNUT STREET, 

1862. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by 

GEORGE W. CHILDS, 

is the Clerk's OflBce of the District Court of the United States for the 
District of Pennsylvania. 



STEREOTTPKD BY L. JOHNSON b CO. 
PHILADELPHIA. 






V 



-A 



^'5 u h. 



TO 



(Pg |Jr0thni-|ri5ffiuiis 



RICHMOND 




THESE SKETCHES ARE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 



BY THE AUTHOR, 



^•E^f-fA^ 



PREFACE. li'^/?/% 



40A 



These sketches were written to lessen the 
tedium of my lengthy imprisonment ; and if they 
serve to recall to my prison-companions the scenes 
enacted in the old Warehouse, and enlist the in- 
terest and sympathies of the reader, they will 
have accomphshed all that is desired by the pub- 
lication of them. 

With the exception of ''' Homeward Bound," 
they were all written within prison-walls, and 
brought to the North sewn securely in the lining 
of an overcoat. 

I confidently trust to my brother-officers for 
their testimony as to the fidelity of description 
of our " domestic economy," and the accuracy of 
detail in the varied incidents of our prison-life in 
the Tobacco Warehouse. 

W. C. H. 

Philadelphia, March 25, 1862. 



CONTENTS. U/A^^'% 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGB 

From Ball's Bluff to Richmond 13 



CHAPTER II. 
Our Prison 22 

CHAPTER III. 
A Day in the Officers' Prison 4S 

CHAPTER IV. 
A Day in the Privates' Prison 57 

CHAPTER V. 
Pursuits and Pastimes 61 

CHAPTER VI. 
Prison-Incidents 81 

CHAPTER VII. 
Sunday in Prison Ill 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Our Jailers 120 

11 



12 Co:sTExNTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

PAQK 

Our Visitors 144 

CHAPTER X. 
Prison-Companions 152 

CHAPTER XI. 
HoMEWTARD Bound 163 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Richmond Prison Association 169 



PRISON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 




CHAPTER I. 

FROM ball's bluff TO RICHMOND. 

On the 21st of October, 1861, tlie battle of Ball's 
Bluff was fought. Sixteen hundred and ten Federal 
and five thousand Eebel troops were engaged. The 
former were defeated, — two hundred and fifty-two killed, 
wounded, and drowned, and six hundred and seventy- 
eight taken prisoners. The defeat and heavy loss on 
the Federal side were owing to inefiicient transporta- 
tion, retarding the arrival of reinforcements, and pre- 
venting retreat from a vastly superior force of the 
enemy, the engagement occurring on the Virginia 
bank of the Potomac River, within two hundred feet 
of the water's edore. 

The history of the war wdll record no military 
blunder so fatal, nor futurity witness more heroic valor 
than was displayed by the Federal troops at the battle 
of Ball's Bluff. 

The following Federal ofiicers were taken prisoners 
by the Rebels : — 

M. Cogswell, Colonel 42d N. Y. Regt. and Captain 8th U. S. I. 

W. Raymond Lee, •' 20th Regt, Mass. Volnnteers. 
F. J. Revere, Major 20th " '' '* 

15 



14 



PRISlN-LIFE at RICHMOND. 



Chas. L. Peirson, 
E. H. R. Revere, 
Geo. B. Perry, 
John Markoe, 
Francis J. Keffer, 
William C. Harris, 
Chas. M. Hooper, 
George W. Kenny, 
Frank A. Parker, 
William H. Kerns, 
John M, Studley, 
Henry Bowman, 
Clark S. Simonds, 
George W. Rockwood, 
John E. Greene, 
J. Harris Hooper, 
Bernard B. Vassall, 
Timothy O'Meara, 
Samuel Gibeson, 
Charles McPherson, 
Henry Van Voast, 



Adjutant 20th Regt. Mass. Volunteers. 

Asst. Surgeon 20th " " '' 

1st Lieut. 20th " " «' 

Captain Col. Baker's California Regt 



1st Lieut. " " 

2d " 

2d " 

2d " *' " " 

2d " 

Captain 15th Regt. Mass. Volunteers. 



1st Lieut. " '• " 

2d '' " " *« 

2d " *' " *' 

Captain 42d Regt. N. Y. Vol. (Tammany.) 

1st Lieut. " " 

1st *' ♦' " ♦* *' 

2d " 



The majority of the officers were taken at dusk, and 
immediately marched under guard to Leesburg, a dis- 
tance of three miles from the field of battle. Arriving 
there, the usual rejoicings of an elated and frantic town 
were performed around us, the town-people appearing 
perfectly maddened in their yells of ecstasy and deri- 
sion, crowding and shouldering each other in herds to 
catch a glimpse of us. "We've got 'em this time!" 
*' Oh, you infernal Yankees !" *' Make way, Jim : I want 
to see a ' Yank' !" were cries that greeted us on every 
side ; and it was not until w^e were marched into the 
presence of G-eneral Evans, the Eebel commandant of 
Leesburg, that the wild uproar of the furious multi- 
tude became comparatively silenced. Federal officers 
and privates were here separated, — the officers ushered 



FROM ball's bluff TO EICHMOND. 15 

into a room occupied by General Evans and liis aids, 
and tlie privates confined in the court-house. 

We were here introduced separately to General 
Evans, a man of tall, brawny frame and unusual 
length of limb, (he is known throughout his command 
by the euphonious sobriquet of '' Shanks.") His man- 
ners are courteous and dignified, being to a certain 
extent free from that peculiar mixture of supercilious 
pride and conceit which characterizes many of the 
officers in the Confederate army. He tendered us the 
following parole, stating that, although it gave the 
liberty of the town, it required us to report in person 
to General Beauregard at Centreville in a few days : — 

*' We, the undersigned, officers in the army of the 
United States, do hereby pledge our oaths and honor 
not to bear arms against the Southern Confederacy 
during the war, unless sooner exchanged." 

We all declined a parole that conceded no privi- 
leges except one, — that of paying our own hotel-bills. 
We were then informed that in a few hours ambu- 
lances would be provided to convey us to Manassas. 

A large wood fire burned briskly in the room, at 
which many of us dried our clothing, which had been 
thoroughly wet in attempts to swim the river. A 
supper consisting of coftee, bread, beefsteak, and pre- 
serves was provided, to which full justice was done, 
many of us having eaten nothing since early morning. 

After midnight we Avere marched two miles from 
Leesburg, where we joined our men, drawn up under 
guard in a large open field. A wagon was here fur- 
nished the officers, and, by close packing, two-thirds 
of our number were accommodated. The march was 
now continued, the prisoners having been formed four 



16 PEISOX-LIFE AT-niCHMOND, 

abreast, and guarded on tlie front, rear, and sides of 
tlie line. Tlie roads, from recent rains, had become 
ankle-deep with mud, rendering the march slow and 
doubly tiresome. 

As the morning broke, the scene was a sad one to 
look upon. From our position in the front, we were 
enabled to overlook the entire line of prisoners, who, 
jaded and worn out, were making the strongest efforts 
to keep their position in line. Occasionally a poor 
fellow would stagger up to the commanding officer, 
piteously exclaiming, "I can go no farther!" Some 
were without shoes or stockings, having lost them in 
attempting to swim the Potomac. Others were with- 
out overcoats, — now doubly needed, as the rain com- 
menced to fall. All were smeared with mud ; and as 
they marched over the slippery road, requiring con- 
stant efforts to secure a foothold, the scene was dreary 
indeed. 

Gradually the officers' wagon became filled with sick 
and weary privates, the officers trudging cheerfully 
through the mud to relieve them. 

At a cross-road ten miles from Leesburg, we were 
met by a cavalcade of rather a grotesque character, 
which excited much laughter, even amidst our distress 
of body and dejection of mind. 

On a very small mule an immense raw-boned negro 
sat, whose broad grin and great glaring eyes actually 
illumined the inanimate countenance of his master, by 
whose side he rode. The master possessed a gray 
homespun suit, large slouch hat, great iron spurs, 
rope bridle, and a gigantic white horse, the lilipu- 
tian form of whose rider appeared to fade into air, aa 
he sat perched upon the immense animal. A lady 



FRO^I BALLS BLUFF TO RICHMOND. 17 

rode by his side, on a small horse, with sleek limbs, 
and stylish though gentle gait. The lady herself pre- 
sented a strange contrast with the beast, as her figure 
was large, her raiment gaudy, and her general appearance 
coarse and masculine. On meeting the front of our 
line, they halted : the negro's eyes popped, the master's 
face freshened slightly, and the lady burst forth, in a 
stentorian voice, ''Is them the Yanks?" Without 
waiting for a reply, she continued, her loud voice 
reaching the entire length of the line : — " Oh, if I had 
my way, I'd kill you, you bloodthirsty villains you ! 
You come down here to murder us, did you? What are 
you doing in that wagon, you sneaking Yankees ? Can't 
you walk ? I'd make you walk !" And so she continued 
until we had moved beyond the reach of her voice. 
We v/ere subjected three times during the day to in- 
sulting and abusive language, — on two occasions from 
old women, and once from an elderly gentleman, when 
a request was made by the officer in charge of us for 
the loan of a wagon to convey the sick and wounded 
privates. The old fellow not only refused, but showered 
a tirade of abuse on the officer for making the request, 
winding up by thundering out, " Let them walk and 
die !" 

Onward we marched until four o'clock in the after- 
noon, when, having reached a large mill near Bull 
Bun, we were halted : the privates were placed in the 
mill, and the officers accommodated in the miller's 
dwelling. Here we expected rest and food, having 
marched without halting (except for a moment or two 
to enable the line to be closed up) for sixteen hours, 
during which time we had not received a morsel of 
food. 



18 PEISON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

We were disappointed; as in a few moments orders 
came from General Beauregard, and we were again 
formed, and marched three miles nearer Manassas, 
to an old stone house on the battle-field of July 21. 
This house will always be an object of interest, as it 
was here our wounded were brought, and on a large 
field directly in front of the house the main struggle 
of the day was made. It now bears the marks of 
cannon and rifle balls. On the west end a rifled-cannon 
ball has gone entirely through the building. At the 
stone house we halted, the privates bivouacking in the 
open air, the officers in the o'pen house. At eleven 
o'clock at night, we were furnished with rations of fat 
pork and corn bread. We had been for forty-eight 
hours without sleep, twenty-four hours without food, 
and had marched seventeen hours without halting to 
rest, — the march being immediately preceded by the 
fatigues and struggle of the battle 'of Ball's Bluff, 
lasting from early morning until dark. At daybreak 
on the 23d October, our march was continued to 
Manassas, a distance of seven miles, where we arrived 
at ten o'clock a.m. 

It is impossible to convey any idea of the appearance 
or strength of Manassas from the occasional glimpses 
we had of successive earthworks, camps, straggling- 
soldiers, and field-artillery. Arriving there, w^e were 
halted at the head-quarters of the provost marshal, 
where the names, rank, and regiments of the officers 
were registered, — during which process we were sur- 
rounded by a dense mass of soldiers, civilians, and a 
few ladies. Although no abusive language was used 
towards us, a peculiar smile of delight, mingled with 
contempt, was on eve^y lip. That smile to us has 



FROM ball's ELUFF TO PJCHMOND. 19 

since become a Southern institution ; for when we find 
a man without it as he looks upon the "Yankees," w^e 
at once conclude that he is a '' Union" man. 

From the provost marshal's we were marched into 
an old barn, where we found a few prisoners arrested 
by the Pv^ebels " under suspicion" of Union sentiments. 
Here we were visited by scores of Confederate officers 
and civilians, none of whom were in the barn a 
moment before they commenced discussing the poli- 
tical causes of the war. Conversing with that efferves- 
cing temperament so peculiar to the Southern-born, 
their manner soon became disagreeable and quarrel- 
some, and we found it necessary to abstain from all 
conversation. A few ladies came to the barn-door, 
stood and gazed upon us, smiled their smile of con- 
tempt, and then went tripping away to tell their 
friends ''how dirty and nasty the Yankees looked." 

At seven p.m. we v/ere placed under guard and es- 
corted to the cars forRichmond, where we arrived, v/ith- 
out incident, at nine a.m. on the 24th of October. We 
found the depot and adjacent streets thronged with a 
dense mass of people. Men, women, and children 
were huddled together, each individual straining every 
nerve to obtain a sight of us. Looking from the car- 
windows, we beheld a tumultuous herd swaying to and 
fro, every eye fixed upon the cars, and, as one of us 
leaned forward to catch a glimpse of the scene, a 
hundred fingers would be pointed, and voices heard 
yelling, "There is one ! See ! there's a Yank !" 

After a short delay, we were marched out of the 
cars into the open street, eight abreast, into a hollow 
square formed by the guard. 

As far as the eye could reach, the populace v;ere 

2 



20 PKISON-LIFE AT PJCHMOND. 

thronging. In the street, pressing on the guard, on 
the side-walk, in the trees, on the balconies, on the 
house-tops, were crowded the eager people. Occasion- 
ally a triumphant yell would be raised, and taunting 
voices heard : — " I say, Yanks, how do you feel ?" 

From the depot, — through the main thoroughfares, 
— we were paraded, guarded by soldiers, escorted by 
the mob, until we arrived at our future prison, — a 
tobacco warehouse on Main Street. 

As we halted, under guard, on the pavement of the 
warehouse, every window was crowded by Federal 
prisoners, eager for a sight' of their brother unfor- 
tunates. Our names being called, we were ordered 
into the building. What a scene of sympathy and 
welcome ! Hands grasped hands, brother met brother 
in misfortune, welcome in every eye and heart, and 
voices greeting, until the room re-echoed with the 
hospitable shouts. 

As the warm gush of welcome mellowed down, loud 
voices were heard exclaiming, " What did you come 
down here for ?" The question was taken up, re- 
peated and repeated, until the warehouse rang with 
the merry cry. In a few moments we were seated 
at the various ^' mess"-tables, eating heartily of the 
warehouse bill of fare. They brought forth their 
choicest viands (butter and molasses) and set before 
us. Warm hearts were around, and the '' fatted calf" 
was killed, each with the other contending for the 
pleasure of feeding us. 

Our meal ended, little groups of earnest questioners 
and the new-comers might be seen dispersed over the 
room. Information was given and received, errors 
corrected in Seceeh reports of the fight at Ball's Bluflf, 



FROM ball's bluff TO RICHMOND. 21 

with sundry details of affairs on the Potomac, which 
were gladly absorbed by the lonely exiles. 

The day was passed in social communion and friendly 
interchange of thoughts, feelings, and opinions. The 
question prominent on every lip was, " Will McClellan 
advance ?" We could not satisfy the earnest ques- 
tioners, but heartily blended our hopes and wishes 
that he would speedily do so. 

As the evening closed, and we lay upon the floor, — 
a few upon straw mattresses, — we but faintly realized 
that henceforth we were piisoners of war. 



22 PEISON-LIFE AT EICH2.I0ND. 



r LIBRARY 



CHAPTER II. 

OUE PEISON. 



The Tobacco Warehouse, where the officers and two 
hundred and fifty privates are confined, is situated in 
the lower portion of the city, on the southwest corner 
of Twenty-Fifth and Main Streets, and was occupied, 
previous to being used as a military prison, by Messrs. 
Liggon & Co. for manufacturing and storing tobacco. 

It is a large, three-story brick building, built in ai 
substantial manner, and peculiarly adapted for prison i 
and hospital purposes. The main (or first) floor isj 
allotted to the officers, fifty of whom are its present t 
(December 1, 1861) occupants. The second and thirdl 
floors contain each one hundred and twenty-five pri- 
vates. In the centre of the officers' floor is placed thea 
machinery for pressing and preparing tobacco, dividing^^ 
it into two equal sections, — the western being used fori 
eating and writing purposes, the eastern for prome- 
nading and sleeping. Ten mess-tables, made of rough 
pine boards, and a number of wooden benches and 
stools, occupy the main portion of the western division; 
and the floor is well covered in the eastern by bed-- 
steads and cots of Southern and prison manufacture 
The latter are primitive yet unique in style, being oi 
the simplest structure that rough boards and a few. 
nails can accomplish. 

The length of the officers' room is sixty-five feet nin< 



OUR PRISON. 23 

inches, width forty-five feet, height twelve feet three 
inches ; one-half of which space is occupied by the ma- 
chinery in the centre and northern portion of the floor. 
The room is lighted by five windows on the west or 
lower side, and three on the east or city side. Those 
on the east are level with the street, and well protected 
by iron bars ; the west windows are without bars, but 
double-guarded by sentinels placed in the yard. 

The sills of those in the west are used as pantries by 
the stewards, and a curious assortment of stores is often 
displayed, — tin cups, plates, knives and forks, a cup of 
butter, saucer of salt, paper of pepper, loaf of bread, 
cold beef, comb and brush, whisk broom, towels, a wet 
shirt drying, shaving-apparatus, bottle of vinegar, &c. 

The room is lighted by gas, the use of which is either 
kindly or unwittingly given at all hours of the day : we 
use it for cooking as well as illuminating purposes, and 
the odor of hot coffee and occasional stews may be 
scented daily throughout the room. At nine o'clock 
we have breakfast, consisting of fresh beef, — occasion- 
ally liver, — with five ounces of bread ; at one o'clock 
dinner, — boiled or roast beef, with five ounces of bread; 
at six o'clock supper, — five ounces of bread. 

The Confederate government furnishes the rations 
of bread and beef, with salt and brown soap. All other 
articles of food are provided by the prisoners, at the 
following prices : — Tea, $4 per pound ; coff'ee, $1 per 
pound ; brown sugar, 20 cents ; butter, 60 cents ; po- 
tatoes, $2 per bushel; molasses, $1.25 per gallon. The 
cost of extra rations, which are confined to the fore- 
going articles, averages $2.50 per week for each officer. 

The cook-house of the officers is located in the prison- 
yard, a.nd is separate from that of the privates. The 



24 PEISON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

attendants have been selected from a number of negroes 
who have been captured while acting as officers' ser* 
vants. 

John Wesley Rhoads, of Bailey's Cross-Roads, Vir- 
ginia, an elderly colored gentleman, acts as chief cook. 
He is an honor to his profession, compiling with scien- 
tific skill the intricate dishes comprising our bill of fare. 
The officers have ten messes, each independent of the 
other, yet drawing their respective rations of bread 
and meat from the Confederate government. To each 
mess is assigned a steward, — generally a non-commis- 
sioned officer or private who is held as a prisoner of 
war. 

The duty of the steward is to receive the allotment 
of cooked food for each mess, prepare the table for 
meals, and attend to such duties as may be assigned 
him by the Sanitary Committee. 

This committee consists of three members, appointed 
from time to time by the Association, and has control 
over all matters relating to the comfort and cleanliness 
of the rooms. When an officer is brought a prisoner 
to our warehouse, he is presented with a tin plate and 
pint cup : to complete his crockery, he is allowed to 
purchase a knife, fork, and spoon at blockade-prices : 
he is also furnished with a cotton coverlet, and five 
yards of brown cotton muslin, from which to prepare a 
bed-tick. When finished, he is permitted to go into 
the yard, where, from a large pile of straw, he fills 
the tick. Then, shouldering the unwieldy mattress, he 
staggers into the room and seeks a vacant spot, which 
hereafter shall be sacred to himself. 

At eight o'clock each morning, the clerk of the 
prison, accompanied by the officer of the day, calls the 



OUR PRISON. 25 

roll. When an officer's name is called, he is required 
to pass by the clerk, remaining on his left until the 
roll is completed. Occasionally the officer in charge 
becomes negligent, and days pass without the attend- 
ance of the roll-sergeant. When daily required, it 
becomes one of the many petty annoyances of our 
prison-life. 

At nine p.m. the officer of the day commands, 
'' Lights out !" and we are expected to prepare for bed. 
The strictness of this order varies with the disposition 
of the officers in charge. By some, the gas is imme- 
diately turned off, with the remark, in one instance, 
'' We don't mind the gas, but you must go to bed at 
nine o'clock." Others allow one burner for any length 
of time we desire ; yet occasionally we neglect to ex- 
tinguish the remaining light, premising that our accom- 
modating officer is on duty, — in which case one of the 
guard is ordered in to turn off the gas. If, as often 
happens, the soldier is from the backwoods, and igno • 
rant of the nature of gas-fixtures, he awkwardly fum- 
bles at them, turning on those burning dimly, and 
reversing thiDgs generally. So, if they do leave us in 
total darkness, we go to bed under the influence of a 
jolly good laugh, — the only exercise unrestricted by 
our prison-walls. 

Amid the hearty roars of laughter and general hurly • 
burly tumult of preparing our beds in the dark, a voice 
will be heard exclaiming, '^ Keep quiet, gentlemen, do, 
if you please : you might wake up the guard." 

When an officer is desirous of visiting his men, con- 
fined in the adjacent warehouse, he makes his request 
known to the officer of the day, who asks permission of 
the commandant of the post. After repeated importu- 



26 PEISON-LIFE AT EICHMOJN'D. 

nities, it will sometimes be granted a week subsequent 
to the first request. The same delay often occurs in 
visiting sick or dying men in the hospital, as the follow- 
ing incident will illustrate : — 

On the 17th of December, the writer was informed 
of the serious illness of a private in his company, — 
Robert McMennamin, of Philadelphia, — then in the 
hospital. Desirous of visiting him, application was 
made to the roll-sergeant of the prison, and through 
him to the officer of the day, who presented the request 
to the commandant of the post. In a few hours the 
reply came that the request could not be granted. 

Later in the day, information was received that the 
poor fellow was very low, and could not possibly live 
through the night. 

Resolved to see him, and ignoring prison-rules and 
persons, the writer watched the street and hailed the 
commandant through the bars : he came, listened, and 
granted the urgent demand. Placed in charge of the 
guard, we entered the hospital, and found McMenna- 
min on the third floor, lying upon a cot, in the last 
stages of typhoid fever. As the writer bent over him 
and received his dying words, — ''Lieutenant, see to 
my mother and little children," — and looked upon his 
haggard and wasted features, his shadow-like frame, 
sunken yet burning eye, he realized the unutterable 
horror of war. 

That man dying in this lonely hospital, without a 
mother's gentle nursing or wife's thrilling tenderness 
to mellow the agony of death, — ah ! it was a scene to 
touch the strong heart. No bolder spirit than his ever 
braved the bullet and bayonet, no truer heart beat 
round our camp-fires, no gayer voice rang with the 

26 



OtTR PRISON. 27 

wild notes of the bivouac-song. Loved, honored, the 
boast and pride of his companions, he died far from 
home and friends, and we know not where " he sleeps 
his last sleep." 

Visitors occasionally arrive at the prison, requesting 
of the ofBcer permission to see a prisoner known to 
them. They are referred to General Winder, to visit 
whom and procure his written authority often occupies 
half the day. In the mean time the young officer of 
the day has piloted through the room several strings of 
his personal friends, who gaze at us as if we were Hot- 
tentots or cannibals. When a Federal officer is visited, 
the officer of the day announces, in a loud tone, that 
''A gentleman wishes to see him:" upon his return 
from the prison-office he is immediately congratulated 
upon being released; and it is only after repeated 
efforts that he convinces our little band that he is 
still part of our confederacy. 

Thirty minutes are allowed to visitors for conversa-. 
tion with a prisoner, which is generally held in the 
presence of several officers connected with the post. 

Letters, after undergoing supervision in IsTorfolk, are 
sent to G-eneral Winder, where much delay occurs be- 
fore they are assorted and delivered. When asked for, 
the reply has been made, — '' The postmaster has not 
had time to arrange them." Occasionally they are 
brought to .the prison- office, and subjected again to 
delay ; and often it requires repeated and urgent re- 
quests for the privilege of assorting and delivering 
them. 

At one time, the penny-post brought them direct 
from the post-office and delivered them personally to 
the prisoners, with which arrangement we were much 



28 PRISON-LIFE AT KICHxMOND. 

pleased; but, owing to a personal difficulty between the 
commandant of the post and the letter-carrier, he dis- 
continued bringing them. The privates suffer still 
more, as an increased interval occurs with their letters 
between receipt and delivery. 

It is amusing to observe the strictness and severity 
of our martinet officers of the day, when the details 
of the system upon which they act are so loosely con- 
nected together. The officers attached to the post 
are, one commandant, and four lieutenants, acting 
officers of the day, — one of whom inaugurates a system 
to-day, another to-morrow, and a third on the next has 
none : hence it is usual with us, when we w^ish to visit 
our men or present other requests, first to inquire who 
is officer of the day. 

" Is Yankee-Killer ?" '' No." '' Is the tall, accom- 
modating officer?" ^^No." ^' Is the little fellow who 
drinks so much whiskey?" '' Yes." Then we are safe 
in asking any thing, for he is both kind and drunk all 
the time. 

In the early part of January, a change occurred in 
the administration of our prison, caused by the depart- 
ure of Captain Gibbs, the commandant of the post, to 
Salisbury, North Carolina, to assume charge of the 
Federal prisoners confined there. Captain A. C. God- 
win, of the C. S. Army, being placed in command at 
Kichmond. 

On the day the change occurred, Brigadier-General 
Winder was seen to visit the prison-office ; and it soon 
became known in the officers' room that our new com- 
mandant would inaugurate a fresh system of regula- 
tions, — which caused much amusement, as experience 
had taught us that prison-systems at our wa.rehouse 



OUR PRISON. 29 

were ephemeral, and apt to vaporize upon the assump- 
tion of duty by each succeeding officer of the day. 

We were informed that our errand-boy would cease 
his duties from that day ; that hereafter no communi- 
cation would be allowed with the ''outer world;" that 
our luxuries must be in future procured through the 
corporal of the guard, who was instructed to carry 
every article purchased into the office for inspection. 
He obeyed his orders strictly in one instance, to the 
personal knowledge of the writer, by carrying to the 
officer of the day the basket containing the half-peck 
of potatoes required by ''our mess." 

Previous to the advent of the new commandant, we 
habitually slumbered in the morning until eight or nine 
o'clock, as a resource to shorten the drear tediousness 
of the day ; but, alas ! on the 22d of January our realm 
of slumber was invaded, and we were aroused shortly 
after daybreak, and summoned to attend roll-call by 
the officer of the day surnamed " Yankee-Killer," ac- 
companied by a file of Confederate soldiers. 

The astonishment with which the dreamy, half-re- 
cumbent sleepers received the call, the husky, inquiring 
voices, the reluctant, drowsy lassitude evinced by all, 
gave evidence of the unwelcome nature of the order. 
"With slow and intentionally lazy movements we pre- 
pared to obey : each garment was handled with a stu- 
died yet demure awkwardness ; boots were put on the 
wrong foot, legs were reversed in pantaloons, and coats 
manosuvred to change front to rear. In the mean time, 
" Yankee-Killer," erect, attentive to the scene, with 
anger-clouds marring the effeminate delicacy of his 
features, and feverish fingers restlessly fondling his 



30 PEISON-LIFE AT BICHMOND. 

sword-hilt, stood watching the sluggish preparations 
around him. 

The Secesh guard looked upon the scene with asto- 
nished eyes. They could not realize that Yankee 
prisoners had courage sufficient to loiter in obeying 
an order from the stern yet truly harmless '^ Yankee- 
Killer." Thirty minutes elapsed before our clothing 
was adjusted properly for the ceremony of roll-call. 
Upon its completion, twenty voices were mingled in 
whistling the stirring, rollicking notes of " Yankee 
Doodle," and our friend marched 'out of the warehouse 
with his soldiers, probably anathematizing the un- 
quenched spirit of 'Hhe eternal Yankee." With no 
other officer would these scenes have been enacted : he 
alone appears to gratify his personal bitterness by 
drawing roughly the prison-shackles around us. 

The regulations of our new commandant remained 
in force a few days, to annoy us and circumscribe our 
privileges, and then faded away like their predecessors. 

To assist them in carrying on the commissary and 
hospital departments of the prisons, the Confederate 
authorities select the many assistants needed from the 
prisoners of war; and it must be acknowledged that 
they show great discrimination of character, — for they 
have chosen the most intelligent and serviceable. With 
the exception of the commissioned officers and attend- 
ant surgeons, the entire organization is composed of 
Federal assistants, who serve because they in a mea- 
sure add to the comfort and welfare of their fellow- 
prisoners. The following remark made by a Confede- 
rate officer will show the estimate placed upon them : — 
^' There is more ingenuity and industry in the Yankee 
prisoners of Eichmond than in the whole Southern 



OUIi PHISON. 31 

Confederacy." Each floor containing privates is placed 
under the charge of one of their number, who is called 
the "sergeant of the floor," and often possesses an 
authority with the Secesh guards not usually exercised 
by prisoners over jailers. A few of them have the 
parole of the city, and often aid the officers in prison 
by making purchases, and bringing welcome intelli- 
gence of Secession reverses, — news considered contra- 
band by the officer in charge. 

At the time of the writer's advent in the warehouse, 
fOctober 24,) there had been considerable amelioration 
of the treatment and condition of the officers. 

The Federal officers captured at Manassas were con- 
veyed in the cars to Richmond, and thrust, with six 
hundred privates, into a warehouse, — where, sweltering 
with the heat of midsummer, with closed windows, and 
not room sufficient for them all to lie wedge-packed 
upon the floor, they remained, suffering and without 
food, for nearly twenty-four hours. They were then 
removed to their present quarters, yet were permitted 
to occupy only half the space subsequently allotted 
them, — the eastern section of the room being filled 
with the prison-guard and sentinels on post upon the 
same floor, with orders to bayonet all who approached 
within three feet of them. 

For weeks they slept upon the floor, without blankets 
or overcoats, with blocks of wood — and not enough 
even of those — for pillows. It was not until three 
months had elapsed that the Confederate authorities 
furnished straw and cotton coverlets. Without ser- 
vants, mess-tables, benches, or even knives and forks, 
they ate their meals cross-legged upon the floor, and 
off the window-sills, in a primitive, yet (owing to the 



32 PEISON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

quantity furnished) ravenous, style. Without water- 
facilities, except a well in the yard, which was used 
not only by the officers, but also by five hundred men 
confined in the upper stories of the warehouse, one 
of whom only was allowed to use it at a time, hours 
would pass each morning before an officer was able 
to wash. 

Visitors of all grades were allowed to enter the 
building, and often subjected them, in the presence of 
Confederate officers of the prison, to the vilest a.buse. 
Outside of the warehouse, the square was for weeks 
packed with Eebels, who, whenever they caught a 
glimpse of a Federal officer, hooted at and insulted him. 
Richmond had, apparently, given up her rabble and 
filth to centre around the " Yankee" prisons, — as men, 
women, and even little children scarcely old enough to 
walk, unites in heaping scurrilous abuse upon them. 

Although in October the treatment of the officers 
has improved, that of the privates remains the same. 
Two thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight have 
been confined in Richmond since the commencement of 
hostilities; and their condition in the upper stories of 
the warehouse is harrowing to the sternest heart. 
With the floor for a bed, without straw, many without 
pantaloons, all with scant raiment, but few with 
blankets, whilst the keen air of mid-winter pierces 
through the ill-protected building, — receiving half 
the ration of food allowed in the Federal army, 
covered with vermin, starved and shivering, — they 
are crov/ded together in herds. Regardless of life, 
dead to the dictates of humanity, their jailers see 
them die daily, — apparently without sympathy, evi- 
dently without attempting to prevent mortality. 



OUE PEISON. 33 

At ten o'clock tliey are furnished with breakfast, 
consisting of a small piece of cold beef and five ounces 
of bread; at seven p.m. they receive about a half-pint 
of soup and five ounces of bread, with rice occasionally 
in lieu of meat. They receive but two meals per day, 
and those of the poorest quality. The rice is often 
wormy; the meat is cooked two days before consumed, 
and lies exposed in a trough in the yard, becoming 
covered with dusty and ashes, and the juice being ex- 
tracted by making soup for one meal before the meat 
is served, dry and hard, for the next. 

For two weeks the men have not been able to pro- 
cure water or brooms with which to scrub the floor, 
and the dirt and bones are swept into one corner : it 
cannot be thrown from the window, the sentinel having 
orders to shoot any one who approaches it. 

Seven Federal prisoners have been shot dead by the 
sentinels for inadvertently leaning from the luindows. 

They have been known to hunt for a bone from the 
pile of filth, and gnaw eagerly upon it. There being 
but one hydrant in the yard, for the use of five hun- 
dred and fifty men, they are kept waiting for hours 
in line before being able to reach it; and the same 
buckets used for distributing meat and soup are fur- 
nished them for washing their bodies and clothes. 

One small stove is put into a room eighty feet long 
by fifty wide; and the men are forced to walk half 
the night to keep from freezing during the other half. 

Every day, from early morning until late at night, 
emaciated soldiers may be seen waiting longingly for 
the surplus bread and meat from the officers' table. 
It is a scene of piteous sadness when a steward brings 
forth a pan of food to distribute among them. As he 



34 PRISaN-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

appears, every soldier's eye glares with a hungry look, 
arms are reached forth beyond the sentry's musket, 
and each man jostles with his neighbor for a crust of 
bread, and crunches his share with eager, ravenous 
haste. 

The hospitals for the prisoners of war are located 
on Main Street, adjacent to the prison-w^arehouse. 
The buildings are similar to the latter in every respect, 
consisting of three stories, each floor of which is sub- 
ject to the following sanitary regulations : — 

Four rows of camp-cots, containing eighty beds, 
occupy the room. 

Twelve nurses are in attendance, — eight during the 
day, four at night ; two sergeants, alternating day and 
night in their duties, who alone give the medicines to 
the sick ; and one steward, having charge of the com- 
missary and culinary departments. 

For a long period previous to the release of the 
Federal sick and wounded prisoners, one hundred and 
sixty in number, they were attended by one physician 
only. Drs. Fletcher and Revere, Federal surgeons, 
were for a short time permitted to attend the hospitals, 
subject to a parole which confined them to the imme- 
diate vicinity of the prison : they were of incalculable 
benefit to the prisoners, who suffered much for the 
want of proper medical attendance. 

When the sick were released and sent North, the 
Federal surgeons were abruptly informed that their 
parole had expired, and we welcomed them once more 
to our "pent-up Utica." 

The food furnished in the hospital is of good quality 
and well cooked, consisting of beef, beef-soup, potatoes, 
coffee and tea, with molasses and milk occasionally. 



ouii PKisoN. 35 

The building is kept in excellent order, the attend- 
ants being prisoners of war ; yet, owing to the sick 
being removed from the crowded prison direct to the 
hospital-wards, they transfer w^ith them myriads of 
body-vermin; and ofteji men have lain for days in a 
typhus condition, infested with vermin, nauseating to 
sight, yet incapable of being cleansed, owing to the 
nature of the disease. When a private becomes un- 
well, no medicine is furnished until he is sufficiently 
ill to be removed to the hospital. This fact, with the 
natural aversion they have to being removed thither, 
adds to the mortality. 

We have been informed that upon the arrival of 
the Federal wounded prisoners from Manassas, the entire 
stock of lint and bandages in the hospital Avas fur- 
nished by the Unionists of Eichmond. The papers at 
that time reeked with the foulest abuse of their govern- 
ment for devoting even a small portion of its resources 
of medical aid to the U.S. wounded, when their own were 
thronging the city, making it one vast charnel-house. 

Lookino; from the west windows of our room, w^e see 
daily from one to three corpses brought from the hos- 
pital to the yard, and deposited in pine coffins. These 
are from the hospital exclusively used for prisoners. In 
the morning a hearse arrives, receives the coffins, and 
drives away, none knowing where or how the poor 
fellows are buried. 

The disease most prevalent is typhoid fever; and the 
great mortality arises in part from patients being dis- 
charged from the hospital during the early stages of 
convalescence. A relapse occurs, and death generally 
ensues. 

John Eiley, sergeant of Company H, California Eegi- 



36 PEISON-LIFE AT EICIIMOND. 

ment, a man forty years of age, upriglit, brave, and a 
veteran soldier, became sick, and was taken to tlie hos- 
pital. In a few days lie was brought, staggering from 
weakness, yet under guard, to his quarters. As he 
passed across the officers' floor to the stairs, the writer 
said to him, in astonishment, '^ John, you are not able 
to come out. Why did you leave the hospital ?" 

"Ah, lieutenant," was the answer, "I ate a little 
breakfast this morning ; and when they found I could 
eat, they told me I must go back and make room for 
others sicker than I am." 

During the suffering and destitution the men daily ex- 
perienced, — suffering calculated to deaden every energy 
of life, and render turbid the natural buoyant impulses 
of man's nature, — the Federal privates had resources 
within themselves to soften the rigor of their confine- 
ment. 

Often did we hear their fine glee-club blending voices 
in the notes of our national song's, whilst " Home, 
Sweet Home" would come trilling to our ears through 
the plank ceiling above us. 

Theatrical amusements and working in bone and 
wood served to lessen the tedium of imprisonment. 

Specimens of their skill in producing from bone 
trinkets of beautiful workmanship were bought with 
avidity by the Confederate and their own officers. 
Finger-rings of exquisite and unique chasing, Maltese 
crosses of elaborate finish, and curious national em- 
blems of quaint design, portraying the skill w^hilst 
suggesting the patriotism of the carver, cut from bone 
and carved with the rudest tools, — a jack-knife and file, 
— were the results of the constant employment of the 
men. 



OUE PRISON. 37 

At one period General Winder issued an order 
making files contraband of war within prison-walls; 
but the men laughed at the prohibition, and the order 
was never enforced. 

'Not in manual labor alone do they commemorate 
their sufferings and imprisonment : an association exists 
among them to perpetuate the records of their confine- 
ment, and to serve as a nucleus round which they may 
gather in brotherhood when the period of their incar- 
ceration is ended. It is called the ''Union Prisoners' 
Association," and is governed by the following officers, 
all of whom belons; to the rank and file of Colonel 
Baker's California Regiment: — • 

A. J. M'Cleary, President. 

Alonzo M. Barpes, Vice-President. 

Alva L. Morris, Pvecording Secretary. 

William H. Sloanaker, Corresponding Secretary. 

Harry A. Harding, Treasurer. 

Executive Committee, William Scott, Charles B. 
Street, Gr. C. Snyder, A. J. Spellbrink, George Heston. 

As donations of clothing arrived from the North, and 
detachments of the prisoners were sent home and to 
the South by the Confederates, the condition of those 
remaining in Richmond became improved. 

Change of quarters in some instances enabled the 
men to cleanse themselves, and the liberal gifts of 
clothing from Northern friends prevented, in a mea- 
sure, the further accumulation of body-vermin; and, 
more space and increased water-facilities being fur- 
nished, all were able to keep their bodies clean and 
partially invigorate the:2i by exercise, though re- 
stricted to their in-door quarters. 



38 PEISON-LIFE AT MCHMOND. 

January 13 and 14 were gala-days within prison- 
walls. Appeals had been made by the imprisoned 
officers of Colonel Baker's California Regiment to the 
citizens of Philadelphia for the relief of the suffering 
privates in the Eichmond warehouses. A warm re- 
sponse and welcome contributions quickly followed, — the 
packages arriving at the warehouse and being opened 
for distribution on the above days. 

The officers' floor had the appearance of a bazaar 
rather than of a prison, as the different articles, consist- 
ing of coats, pants, vests, boots, shirts, drawers, stock- 
ings, towels, sponge, soap, combs, tooth-brushes, sewing- 
bags, and even dressing-gowns, were strewn promis- 
cuously around, — presenting to our shabby guards a 
picture of tempting comfort towards which in vain 
they ''cast a wishful eye." The G-overnor of Massa- 
chusetts had forwarded in the latter part of December 
three hundred and fifty complete suits of clothing, — • 
thus maintaining the reputation of that noble old State 
for generosity and liberal attention to the wants of her 
volunteer soldiers. The clothing for the California 
Regiment was contributed solely by private persons, 
residents of the city of Philadelphia, to whom a more 
fitting evidence of our gratitude could not be rendered 
than to depict the earnest, expectant eagerness with 
which the articles were received. 

As name after name was called, and the poor fellows 
filed into the room in destitution and in rags, and were 
sent back with armfuls of the good things from our 
Northern homes, their features glowing with thankful- 
ness and honest pride of their generous and time- 
honored birthplace, iull well the scene would have 
repaid the donors for their liberal contributions. Kind 



OUR PEISON. 39 

friends at home, do you not see destitute men, after 
months of suffering, gathering the treasures you have 
sent them, in some selected corner of the old warehouse 
sacred to themselves, counting, handling, ay, gloating 
over the rare comforts of this pitiless winter ? 

They who sent this warm blanket, this heavy woollen 
shirt, knew not, perhaps, how much of disease and 
death hung around these prison-walls, of the filth and 
destitution within them, now cleansed and alleviated 
by the responsive sympathy of their generous hearts. 

The Hon. Mr. Faulkner, released by the United States 
government in exchange for the Hon. Mr. Ely, M.C., 
of Rochester, N.Y., visited us on the 21st day of 
December, 1861. We were solicitous of his unpreju- 
diced opinion regarding the comparative treatment of 
Federal and Confederate prisoners of war, and were 
ratified at the tenor and courteous sincerity of his 
conversation. 

He passed through the officers' floor, greeting us with 
much cordiality and evident sympathy. His recent 
arrival from France, brief residence in "Secessia," with 
his '^wheelbarrow experience" in Fort Warren, had, no 
doubt, mellowed the bitterness of his Southern heart, 
— as we were thoroughly impressed with his kindness 
of manner and the interest he evinced irr the details of 
our imprisonment and treatment. 

After examination of our quarters, he said, ''But 
little diff'erence existed between them and those of the 
Confederate prisoners at Fort Warren, excepting in 
out-door exercise, which was imperatively needed, and, 
he hoped, would soon be allowed us." 

He expressed his opinion that a general exchange 



40 PEISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

would speedily occur; by wliicli remark lie added a 
new chapter to our already voluminous text-book, 
''Hart on Exchange." 

After conversing socially for a sliort time, lie was 
passing from the building, when an officer suggested 
that probably he was desirous of visiting the quarters 
of the privates. He remarked that he had just passed 
through them. Upon being informed of his error, — 
that those he was now in belonged to the officers,— he 
appeared much astonished, and desired to be shown 
those of the privates. 

He was led into the upper stories, and evinced sur- 
prise and pity at the condition and treatment of our 
soldiers. 

During his visit to our warehouse, he expressed the 
following opinions : — 

'' That United States officers in Richmond received 
treatment similar to that of the Confederate privates in 
the North. 

"That United States privates were treated much 
worse than Confederate privates were in the North. 

*' That the privateers North received every comfort 
possible under the circumstances. 

''That the Federal hostages in Richmond jail were 
treated far worse than the privateers were in the 
North." 

Mr. Faulkner has placed himself under the ban of 
Secession displeasure by maintaining a "masterly in- 
activity" on the subject of the Rebellion, since his re- 
turn from the North. The Richmond press coarsely 
abuse him for a want of patriotism, intimating that he 
is at heart a "Unionist;" and Confederate officers have 



OUR ITJSON. 41 

declared in our prison that a shrewd '^ Yankee" trick 
had been played upon them in exchanging Mr. Faulk- 
ner for Mr. Ely, — that it inaugurated a new system of 
exchange, '' a Yankee foi' a Yankee." 

Union men — or, more properly, prisoners under sus- 
picion of Union sentiments — are confined in an adjacent 
warehouse. The condition of our own soldiers is har- 
rowing to \h.e heart; but sympathy, pity, and impul- 
sive horror are called forth by the contemplation of 
the treatment received by the Union men. 

Taken from the backwoods, often whilst in the field 
at the plough, and conveyed to Pbichmond, without 
change of clothing, they are huddled together, two hun- 
dred and eighty-nine in number, in the lower room 
of the warehouse occupied by the Federal privates. 
Young boys, scarcely old enough to know what Union 
means, old men, ragged, unshaven, filthy, trembling 
with age, — in one instance totally blind, — a few so help- 
less that they v/ere led about the room, — covered with 
vermin to such an extent that even the vermin-afEicted 
soldiers shun contact with them, — the ignorant and 
educated, the filthy and refined, are mingled in one 
mass. of misery and stench. Nearly all are afilicted with 
incipient consumption, brought on by want of proper 
raiment and by the cold, biting draughts through the 
building. Two have died in their plank bunks on the 
prison-floor, from lack of attention and medical assist- 
ance; ten per cent, have died in the hospitals; whilst 
two-thirds of those taken there die in consequence of 
the fatal progress the disease has made previous to 
their removal from the prison. Many have an idiotic 
appearance; whilst all a:"e ignorant of the charges 



42 PRISON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

against tliem, but presume in every case tliat it is from 
suspicion of ''Union sentiments." 

A fcAV voted the Union ticket ; but many know no- 
thing of tlie political causes of the war. Nearly all are 
entirely destitute of money, and a few so utterly dead 
to sliame that no employment is too repulsive or 
degrading for them. Instances have been known 
"where they would beg permission to hunt vermin upon 
a soldier's shirt for a pittance of money wherewith to 
buy bread. 

A permanent commission was appointed by the Con- 
federate government, to whom were referred all cases 
of men ''under suspicion." Yet day after day passed, 
and they still lay in prison, Avithout trial and without 
knowledge of the charges against them. By the mer- 
ciful ordination of Providence, the commissioner w^s 
removed by death, and the Confederate government 
appointed a man who has shown that regard for 
humanity which, when blended with justice, con- 
stitutes the purely upright judicial. 

At the present time (February 1, 1862) few Union 
prisoners remain in the E^ichmond warehouses. When 
brought to trial, few refused to take the oath of alle- 
giance, and on taking the oath they were sent to 
their homes, — perhaps to find them in desolation and 
ruins. 

Through all time will the foul stigma of inhumanity 
cling to this great rebellion, when the sad history of 
the Union prisoners is told by the future historian. 

Union prisoners of a different character and stand- 
ing are occasionally incarcerated in the prison-ware- 
house occupied by the officers, but generally for a very 
short period, as the association would yield pleasure 



OUR PEISON. 43 

to Unionists, and welcome intelligence would be given 
to the prisoners. 

During the early part of January, a wealthy and in- 
fluential citizen of E-ichmond became an inmate of the 
officers' room for a few hours. His name will not be 
given, as he is still a resident of Pbichmond, and we 
do iiot wish to compromise his interests, and perhaps 
injure the cause he so nobly yet discreetly represents 
amidst the rebellious herd around him. 

He is a relative of a distinguished physician of 
Philadelphia, and has been from the commencement of 
our political troubles a staunch Union man. 

During his temporary absence from Richmond, his 
son, against the father's express desire and command, 
accepted a commission in the Confederate army, and 
previous to his confinement among us the father had 
been visiting his son at Manassas. Whilst there, the 
usual holidays of the season opened, a.nd he had sub- 
scribed liberally in behalf of his son to an entertain- 
ment given by the officers to commemorate the ausjji- 
cioics opening of the new year. 

Whilst at the social board, unconscious of the evil 
gathering around him, he was placed under arrest, and 
conveyed to Ptichmond, where v/e had the pleasure of 
greeting him, openly and without danger to his person, 
at our rough yet social mess-table. The few hours he 
passed in our midst impressed us with the earnest 
sincerity of his Union sentiments, whilst the courteous 
and refined urbanity of his manners rendered his society 
pleasing and grateful during our hours of seclusion 
from the " outer world." 

His early removal from the warehouse caused gene- 
ral regret. During his brief stay, he informed U3 



44 PRISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

that whilst at Manassas he was convinced that treach- 
ery was rife in high quarters of the United States 
Army, — that daily information passed from the Federal 
lines to those of the Confederates at Manassas. So 
convinced was he of this fact, and so thoroughly had 
he identified persons concerned in this treacherous 
villany, that measures were at once taken by a promi- 
nent officer among us to furnish the United States 
government v/ith the information, which was done 
within ten days from the date of the Unionist's arrival 
in the warehouse. 

He assured us of the immense amount of dissatisfac- 
tion in the rank and file of the Confederate Army; 
that, were it in their power, two-thirds of the Eebel 
army would go home : that they w^ould do so upon the 
expiration of the twelve months' service, he had not 
the slightest doubt. 

These facts, with many others relative to the Union 
sentiment in Eichmond, were gladly received by us; 
for we had almost desponded of ever catching a ray of 
hope through the bars. 

Our friend had no fears of a lengthy confinement, as 
he had many influential friends, among whom might 
be classed a few of the bitterest Kebels of Eichmond. 
He anticipated being released in the morning; yet his 
hopes were realized sooner than he had expected, al- 
though in a ludicrous and singular manner. 

At twilight of the day he arrived, a private carriage 
was observed to stop at the prison-door. A lady of 
fashionable and refined appearance alighted, approached 
the sentinel, and demanded imperatively to see our 
Union friend. The sentinel refused her admittance. 
The lady insisted in a louder tone, and a little crowd 



OUR PRISON. 45 

gathered round tlie door, whilst the prisoners collected 
at the windows at the unusual sight. 

Louder and louder grew the lady's voice, sterner 
the sentinel's, until the commandant of the post 
appeared. 

He was immediately accosted by the lady, who de- 
manded admission, at the same time informing him 
that '^ she was as good a P^ebel as any in the States." 

Upon his refusal, she again approached the sentinel, 
and persisted in passing. Our worthy jailer, taking 
her by the arm, led her to the carriage, at the same 
time speaking a few words in a low tone. She entered, 
and, in an excited voice, ordered the negro to drive 
home. 

Turning to the sentinel, the commandant sternly 
ordered him to bayonet any who approached, without 
authority, within three feet of the door, without regard 
to sex, age, or position, concluding with the words, 
" Eemember, I order you." He then quickly paced the 
pavement to and fro for some time, in deep thought. 
Finally he entered the building, and inquired for our 
Union friend, who passed into the office with him. In 
a few moments he returned for his carpet-bag, ignorant 
of his destination, yet surmising that he would be 
paroled. 

We have not seen him since that moment; yet many 
of us judge him to be another political inmate of 
Pdchmond jail. 

The prisoners are guarded according to the following 
regulations, copied from those posted on the walls of 
the prison-office : — 

1st. The roll-call of prisoners will conimence at 



46 PRISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

seven o'clock a.m., and the officer of tlie day will 
superintend the roll-call in person. 

2d. Either the officer of the day, or of the guard, 
must be at the guard-room at all hours ; and the guards 
off post are required to remain always at their quarters, 
ready for service. 

3d. Prisoners have not permission, nor will they be 
allowed, to pass from floor to floor, or house to house, 
or be absent from the building to which they are 
assigned, except with the permission of the command- 
ing officer, or officer of the day. 

4th. No prisoner, whatever be his rank, will be 
allowed to leave the prison to Avhich he is assigned, 
under any pretext whatever, without permission of the 
commanding officer; nor shall any prisoner be fired at 
by a sentinel or other person, except in case of revolt 
or attempted escape.* 

6th. The guard, Avhether on post or otherwise, w^ill 
have no conversation Avith citizens or prisoners, nor 
will they permit it between citizens or others and 
prisoners. 

Gth. They will not permit letters, packages, or 
parcels of any kind, to be sent into or out of the 
prisons or hospitals, without permission from the officer 
commanding, the surgeon, the officer of the day, or 
officer of the guard. 

7th. They will not, under any circumstances, pass 
persons into or out of the prisons, except by per- 
mission of the officer commanding or officer of the day; 
and any person presenting a pass or permit will be 
directed to the commandins; officer's office. 

o 

* The sentinels have killed seven and Avouiided three Federal 
prisoners, for looking out of the windows. 



OUR PEISON. 47 

8th. Except in cases of special permit, tlie interview 
between visitors and prisoners must be had at office of 
commanding officer. 

9th. All lights, except hospital's, must be extin- 
guished at nine o'clock p.m. 

10th. All prison-gates to be closed at six p.m. 

11th. No visitors will be permitted to enter the 
prison, or have any conversation whatever with the 
prisoners, except by special permit of General Winder. 

12th. A number of the guard will be detailed 
between the hours of ten a.m. and twelve o'clock M., 
daily, to make purchases for the prisoners. At no 
other time will they be permitted to leave the post. 

13th. The first duty of the guard, daily, will be 
that of policing each floor, and the entire premises of 
each prison ; and the officer of the day will see that this 
duty is rigidly performed. 

14th. The firing of a single gun at night, or in the 
daytime, will be the signal for the immediate assem- 
bling, under arms, of the guard, excepting the sentinels 
on post, and, when so assembled, the officer of the guard 
will keep them at attention for orders. 

15th. The officer of the guard is required, by frequent 
inspection, to see that the arms of the guard, particu- 
larly at night, are in condition for constant use. 



48 PEISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 



3^^^1 



[0 

CHAPTER III. 

A DAY IN THE OFFICEES' PRISON. 

At an early hour in the morning we are aroused 
from our skimbers by the cry of "milk! milk!" re- 
sounding through the warehouse, and a stampede of 
stewards to the door, armed with tin cups and five- 
cent pieces, where they receive from a piebald negro 
the necessary fluid. This negro is one of the outside 
prison-associations. Who of us can ever forget the 
eagerness with which he seizes a half-dime, and the 
terseness of manner with which he refuses to barter his 
commodity for a five-cent shin-plaster, which is now 
and then tendered to him? In a few moments the 
milk-purchasers are joined by a more eager, yet thirsty 
crowd, who seek to cull from the morning papers balm 
for the past, hope for the future. A few heads may now 
be seen peering out from cotton comfortables and over- 
coats, and husky voices heard exclaiming, '' I say, 
Wabash! any news about exchange?" The magic 
word "exchange" operates like a morning bath, re- 
freshing and reviving ; for the dullard of sleep becomes 
at once an animate and expectant soul. Slowly the 
scene becomes imbued with life. Indiana robes herself; 
Wisconsin, half recumbent, gazes dreamily around; 
Ohio arises, drawing around her the only robe de 
chambre in the building ; whilst California awakes from 
golden dreams, donning her shabby habiliments of 



A DAY IN THE OFFICERS' PEISON. 49 

woe. The scene is full of life and animation, as each 
representative appears upon the floor, wending his way, 
soap in hand, towel over shoulder, to the wash-closet. 
Our ablution ended, an early morning walk, as an 
appetizer, commences. Up and down, to and fro, at 
quick time, we march, avoiding tenderly the soil of a 
portion of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, who lie, as 
visual, in a dormant state. In a few moments the 
steward's cry of ''bread!" warns us that our breakfast 
is nearly prepared; the quickly succeeding cry of 
''meat!" gathers us around our respective mess-tables. 
In those two monosyllabic cries is comprised the bill of 
fare for breakfast, dinner, and supper; though many 
messes who possess funds and can afford the dignity of 
a treasurer indulge in luxuries, such as coffee, sugar, 
molasses, milk, and potatoes. The writer's mess can 
only occasionally luxuriate in a pint of molasses and a 
quarter of a peck of potatoes. " Poverty hath its con- 
tentment, of which riches knoweth not," — (Tuppee,, we 
believe,) — yet surely the poet never imagined poverty 
and a prisoner of war in companionship. 

As we gather around our mess-tables, many are the 
remai'ks made of home and friends. How earnestly 
we wish such and such loved ones could look upon 
our board, could partake with us this simple meal I 
Breakfast over, some lounge on the promenade, others 
resort to letter-writing. A few diligent officers have 
already abstracted the news, and, among other subjects, 
are tliscussing the pros and cons of a speedy exchange ; 
and if a thoughtless editor should unfortunately have 
inserted in his paper a news-item about exchange, he 
at once inflicts upon our " Confederacy" both delight 
and torture, — delight at seeing the word " exchange" 



50 PEISON-LIIE AT RICHMOND. 

in print, and torture at tlie indefinite nature of tlie 
item. 

Standinsc at tlie north end of the room and lookina; 
south, we pliotograph the following picture. On the 
right, within reaching-distance, sit, silently engrossed 
in cards, a captain from Pennsylvania, and four lieu- 
tenants, respectively from Maine, Wisconsin, Massa- 
chusetts, and Ohio. Farther on, two army-chaplains 
are quietly discussing the past, present, and future 
religious condition of the world in general, and, for 
aught we know, their own present unfortunate con- 
dition in particular. A few steps more to the right, 
and we find Lieutenant Peacock, of the steamer Fanny, 
captured by the Confederates at " Chicamacomico.," 
He is surrounded by a colonel, a quartermaster, and a 
doctor, whose attention he is engrossing by an ani- 
mated account of the Fanny's surprise and capture. 
His description is graphic, and occasionally illumined 
with touches of humor that convulse his audience. 

Looking straight before us, we see Congressman Ely 
bending over his *' mess-table," seemingly buried in the 
mass of documents around him. Every day, for hours, 
he is occupied with his pen, assisted by young Hale, of 
the Navy, (nephew to Gideon Welles, Secretary of the 
ISTavy,) who has volunteered as his secretary. Near 
Mr. Ely, a lieutenant sits on a bench, busily engaged 
in patching a pair of seedy pantaloons, whilst another 
is observed acting as housemaid, washing dishes, and 
sweeping the floor around his mess -table. 

On the left may be seen the fine, manly form and 
handsome face of Colonel Coo'swell, of the United 
States Pvegular Army, who is pacing to and fro in 
deep study. Upon him devolved the command after 



A DAY IN THE OFFICEES' PEISON. 51 

General Baker's death at the battle of Ball's Bluff. 
He is reserved, but possessed of many qualities that 
command respect and esteem from bis prison-associates. 

At the lower end of the room, we see the slight but 
agile figure of Colonel Lee, of the 20th Massachusetts 
Eegiment, (taken at Ball's Bluff,) who is earnestly- 
engaged in conversation with two visitors, one of whom 
is the Episcopal Bishop of Virginia, the other a divine 
of note from the same State. Colonel Lee has a 
warmth and an earnestness of manner which endear 
him not only to his brother-ofiicers, but interest all 
who come within the sound of his genial voice. He is 
beloved by the junior officers of his command, — four of 
wdiom are prisoners here, having preferred to share his 
fate rather than desert him when the hard-fought field 
was lost. 

Pages could be occupied in describing the varied 
characters within the room. Each have their distinct- 
ive grades in our social circle, yet none have caused a 
jar or created a discord in the good fellowship of our 
community. 

Occasionally letters arrive from home; and then the 
excitement is almost painful to witness. The ''Penny 
Post" is surrounded by an eager crowd, jostling shoul- 
ders for even a glimpse of the letters. Name after name 
is called, repeated, and re-echoed through the room, and 
the fortunate receiver is looked upon as a Crcesus. 
The last name is called, and sober, disappointed faces 
gaze wistfully into each other. Often, as the letter- 
carrier is leaving the room, an earnest, anxious voice 
may be heard, ''Are you sure there is none for me?" 
"None for you, sir," is the 'reply; and the sad inquirer 
moves away, feeling that there is but one link left 



52 PEISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

between him and home, — the consolation of affection ir_ 
his own strong heart. Those who receive letters are 
surrounded by the disappointed, who gladly absorb 
news from the North through any channel that re- 
minds them of their own firesides. 

It is one o'clock, and dinner-hour. As we draw near 
our '^ mess-table," we find that a jovial wag has pasted 
on the wall the following bill of fare : — 

HOTEL DE YANKEE. 

BKEAKFAST. 
Fried Liver, "with crumbs." 
Liver Fried. 

Coffee, — when purchased by boarders. 
Tea,— " " *' 

Bread. 
Black Bread. 
Water-Soakers. 
Dry Toast " over gas-light." 

DINNER. 
Boiled Beef. 

Beef Boiled, *'Secesh a la mode." 
Hoe-Cake, made with boarder's meal. 
Roast Beef, — if you can beg any from outsiders. 
Tomatoes and Potatoes, — if you purchase them. 
White Bread. 
Stale '* 
Annual Pudding, — " only made once a year." 

SUPPER. 
Codfish Fried, — if bought a:id sent to cook. 
Cold Boiled Beef. 

Boiled Beef, turned over seven or eight times. 
Cold Coffee, warmed over. 
Bread, > 
Water, T"^^- 

Gentlemen will find this a first-class hotel; and it is 
kept on a Southern plan. The beds are well aired, — if 



A DAY IN THE OFFICERS' lEISON. 53 

taken care of by the boarder himself. All extra meals 
can be sent to the boarder's room, — if purchased by him 
outside of the hotel. The proprietor earnestly requests 
that no money be given to servants, as he pays and 
clothes them liberally for their services. 

Jefferson Davis, Proprietor. 

This bill of fare comprises the entire delicacies of 
our hotel. But a more practical illustration of our daily 
diet is as follows, viz. (the messes being numbered 
according to amount of funds in treasury :) Mess No. 1, 
bread, beef, and water ; No. 2, bread, beef, and pint 
bottle of molasses; No. 3, bread, beef, and butter; 
No. 4, bread, beef, butter, and molasses ; No. 5, bread, 
beef, butter, coffee, and potatoes; Nos. 6 to 10 inclu- 
sive, bread, beef, butter, coffee, molasses, and potatoes. 
Simple as this fare is, wanting delicacies and condi- 
ments, we have become thorough epicures, and chal- 
lenge Anacreon from his shades by the delicate skill 
with which we discuss the tendei qualities of sirloins, 
ribs, chucks, and shins of beef daily set before us; and 
we assure our friends who imagine that living skeletons 
are the inhabitants of the officers' prison in Richmond, 
that as each hour passes its sluggish length away, so 
grows our substance, if not our strength. 

The officers taken at Ball's Bluff are all getting fat : 
yet it is not upon the goodly things of '^ Secessia," but 
rather from the rich storehouse of vivacious and 
buoyant spirits. Dinner over, the promenade is again 
the resort of many. The promenade is twenty feet 
long by six feet in width; yet, by a nice system of 
pilotage between mess-tables, benches, and beds, a few 
of us can manage to prolong our walk around the 



54 PEISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

entire room. Whist, reading, writing, and conversa- 
tion occupy the afternoon. Supper is generally accom- 
plished as per ''bill of fare." 

When evening comes, every eye seems to brighten 
and every heart to gladden with social familiarity and 
jovial converse. Over in that corner a cluster of 
young officers are culling scenes of college-life from 
the garner-house of memory. How their hearty roars 
of laughter make the old prison echo, until the bare 
walls appear to freshen with the sound and look less 
grim ! Old walls, ye have held no warmer hearts than 
these. Desolate and sad are ye to look upon ; yet ere 
long ye will be one of the links to chain the past to 
our memories. 

Around the stove are gathered a knot of officers, 
who are sketching grim incidents of war, narrow 
escapes, cunning escapades, precipitate retreats, and 
heroic charges. The scenes are laid amidst the 
mountain-ranges of Western Virginia, the bluffs and 
plains of the Upper Potomac, the rolling hills of Cen- 
treville, and the blood-ploughed fields of Manassas. 
On the latter many of the officers were wounded. 
A few of them lay upon the field for forty-eight hours, 
without food, water, or blanket, — with bleeding limbs, 
and mangled and dying companions around them, whose 
cries of agony come moaning to-night around their 
hearts, and whose death-struggles are vivid in every 
flash of thought to that fatal field. How deep the in- 
terest shown in these sad details ! how closely that little 
crowd draw around the earnest speaker ! With glisten- 
ing eye and mellowed heart, they absorb the sadness of 
his own, as he sketches, with painful experience, the 
harrowing scenes of the battle-field when the struggle 



A DAY IN THE OFFICEES' PRISON. 55 

is over. Yet as tlie same officer, in glowing language, 
depicts tlie wild charge, tlie rattle of musketry, 
the echoing thunder-boom of artillery, the rout, the 
capture, and the victory, see how every eye burns and 
flashes, every feature starts into life, and every voice 
commingles in the wild enthusiasm ! 

The old room resounds, during the evening, with, the 
chorus of the prison-song : — 

"Roll on, roll on, sweet moments, roll on. 
And let the poor prisoner go home, go home !" 

Sixty voices blend in the rolling notes, with an 
earnest, hearty will that causes the shivering sentry to 
start, shrieking out, ^'Corporal of the guard!" The 
passer-by stops and peeps through the bars, the negro 
cooks cluster around the outer door, and the young 
officer of the day looks in, at a loss how to act. Indif- 
ferent to all, the chorus swells, until every nook and 
corner of the old warehouse is filled with the melody. 
We have many fine voices among us, and during the 
evening may be heard songs of sentiment, patriotism, 
and humor, wild glees of college and bivouac life, 
"Benny Havens !" — the resort and reminiscence of 
West-Pointers ; and, as the evening closes, we often 
raise the sweet, plaintive notes of " Home, Sweet Home," 
in which every heart, if not voice, mingles, — it may be 
sadly, yet with tender earnestness. 

At nine o'clock the officer of the day looks in, and 
commands, '^Lights out!" Cots are put in position for 
the night, books are closed, ink-bottles, pen, and paper 
placed in our general reservoir, — the window-sill, — the 
lights are turned down, groups gather closer together, 
in an under -tone stories are told and impromptu enig- 
mas and conundrums given, and the little band does 



66 PEISON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

not disperse for an hour or two. Gradually all becomes 
quiet. 

It is a strange and solemn siglit, to look around the 
room wliere sixty human beings are sleeping within a 
prison's walls. The dense — almost stifling — silence awes 
the senses. Could we but gather the dreams of all, what 
a volume would be unfolded of agony, love, hope, and 
despair ! Solemn and silent the night passes on, — un- 
varied except by the rough tramp or hoarse challenge 
of the sentinel at the outer door. 



A DAY IN THE PRIVATES' PRISON. 67 




CHAPTER IV. 

A DAY IN THE PRIVATES' PRISON. 
(From the Diary of Sergeant A. P. Schurtz, Col. Baker's Cal. Reg.) 

Novemher 10, 1861. — Having no bed but the bard 
floor, and no covering but our wearing-apparel, tbe 
cold air this morning was all-sufficient to arouse us 
early and cause an extra promenade of the floor to 
warm up the blood. Taking an early start, I deemed 
it possible to get down to the yard and wash before 
roll-call, and had so far succeeded as to be within two 
of getting out. At this critical moment (to me) the 
Rebel officers came in, and, in no very respectful man- 
ner, ordered all hands up-stairs. Nothing but an unrea- 
soning obedience is permitted with these gentlemen, 
and, with any thing but pleasant feelings, I returned. 

This diurnal duty of roll-call being accomplished, 
another rush was made for the steps, and, although 
going at '^ double-quick," I came in line some twenty- 
five to the rear. Only two being allowed out at a time, 
and they staying as long as possible, nearly an hour 
had elapsed ere I had completed my morning ablu- 
tions. The authorities here not being remarkable for 
their sagacity, or else being careless of any convenience 
afi"orded, seem to think one pump sufficient for the uses 
of five hundred men. "We endure it, but not good- 
humoredly. 

After our wash, instead of having nice linen towels, 



68 PEISON-LIFE %T EICHMOND. 

we appropriate our coat-tails and sliirt-sleeves, — which I 
judge improved but little our appearance in the way of 
cleanliness. 

By this time it was eight A. M., and our room was all 
astir. It were folly for us to think of a meal we once 
knew by the name of breakfast, for it seemed as though 
the fast would never break; and the next important 
question that presented itself was, how to pass the time. 

In one corner of the room, a member of Colonel Baker's 
California Pvegiment had a morning paper, and crowded 
around him were perhaps fifty, endeavoring to hear the 
news. I certainly was among the number, and dis- 
covered that the destination of the " Yankee fleet" and 
abuse of the " Hessians" generally constituted the burden 
of the song chimed by the " Pvichmond Dispatch." The 
news being devoured, and the prospects of being set to 
work on Rebel intrenchments, or of being hung, having 
received a full discussion by groups assembled here and 
there, an hour was spent in dreamy idleness, when sud- 
denly a cry of " Bread on the first floor!" rang through 
the room. Delightful intelligence to men who had eaten 
nothing for sixteen and a half hours, and then only 
half as much as they wanted ! In a few minutes the 
bread arrived upon the floor, and, being divided into 
our respective squads, the half-loaf — weighing perhaps 
five ounces — was distributed to each. 

The avidity Avith which each man gnawed his crust 
was ample evidence of his hunger. But a few moments 
elapsed before we received our allowance of boiled 
beef without salt; yet the bread by this time, in many 
cases, was all devoured. Breakfast being over, a sport- 
ing crowd, composed of members of the 1st Califor- 
nia, 15th and 20th Massachusetts, seated themselves 



A DAY IN THE PRIVATES' PRISON. 59 

on our only cliair (the floor) and engaged in an exciting 
game of ''penny poker;" others pitched pennies, played 
euchre, draughts, &c. But the main portion would for 
a while gaze out on the capital of Eebeldom, and then, 
taking the floor for a stool, sit like '' Patience on a 
monument, smiling at grief." In retired spots could be 
seen the more thoughtful, perusing with manifest de- 
light a Bible or Testament, rendered doubly sacred by 
being the last token of the afi'ection of a doting parent 
or loving sister. 

Looking upon these scenes, in such a situation, the 
feelings that fill a man's bosom are indescribable. It 
is here that we feel the loss of home comforts, our 
jovial associates, and all we once held dear; but '' Hope 
is our sheet-anchor," and buoys up the unconquerable 
American's spirit. 

From twelve M. to four p.m. another important duty 
must be performed, and, as all hands are deeply interested, 
w^e participate with a lively interest. Our combined 
eff'ort is, therefore, a war of extermination on " the de- 
fenceless" vermin, wdiich have become so numerous and 
extremely annoying that an existence mingled with any 
happiness must result not only in ''subjugating" these 
pestiferous devils, but completely " crushing them out." 

Our sentinels keep a vigorous look-out that we do 
not get our heads out of the wandow^s and thereby get 
a snuff" of fresh air ; or, if we should happen to trans- 
gress thus much upon God's atmosphere from a third- 
story window, he w^aits not to warn us, but, without 
any scruples, does his utmost to be the "death of a 
d — d Yankee." "We had a practical illustration of 
their feelings to-day, by being fired at while gazing 
out of a closed window. The bullet missed the 



60 PEISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

)iead of a comrade by only a few inches, and passed 
through the roof. It is needless to add that the senti- 
nel was considered a " brave" by his ignorant and brutal 
-comrades. 

The time intervening between a nieal nominally 
known as breakfast and that of supper, is about seven 
and a half hours, which brings supper (we have no 
dinner) at seven p.m. Besides our delicate five ounces of 
bread, we are then favored v\^ith a half-pint of soup, 
made from the fat extracted from the boiled beef eaten 
in the morning, with a slight mixture of Indian meal. 
At the hour mentioned, six dirty buckets full of this 
delicacy are brought us by the darkey prisoners under 
guard. The appointed sergeant deals out each little 
mite, and a very short time suffices to finish our not 
very sumptuous repast. 

Cards being scarce, only a few can indulge in that 
delightful amusement ; and various are the means de- 
vised for the evening's entertainment. This evening 
we were treated with songs both comic and pathetic, 
tragic scenes by those who had at some time figured in 
some capacity on the stage in Boston, Philadelphia, or 
New York, and ending with extemporaneous speeches 
on subjects better calculated to amuse than to instruct. 
The ^' universal Yankee" is undoubtedly here, and he 
is determined to make prison-life as endurable and 
pleasant as circumstances and the Pvebels will permit. 



PURSUITS AND PASTIMES. 61 




CHAPTER V. 

PURSUITS AND PASTIMES 



As the first blush of morning streams througli tlie 
bars, a short, robust officer may be seen wending his 
way to the door. Returning, paper in hand, he sits on 
his cot, and the first volume of '^ Hart on Exchange" is 
opened. As the morning freshens; and sleepers awake, 
voices from all parts of the room are blended in the 
one cry : — " Say, Wabash ! any news about exchange ?" 
To each and all a happy reply is given, mingled with hope 
and consolation adapted to each case. 

The subject animates the room, and many now appear 
sitting up in their beds, prepared for the first and most 
important duty of the day. Can we ever forget its solemn 
and impressive obligations, its mysteries and its cares, or 
its satisfaction, though of a melancholy nature ? Long 
years may pass ; the old warehouse may moulder and 
fall into ruins, the voices of " Secessia" be hushed for- 
ever ; but, old companions in prison, can we ever forget 
the early-morning hour devoted to„the solemn task of 
^'crumb"-hunting ? Above us are two stories, closely 
packed with privates, who, without washing-facilities or 
change of clothing, are infested with vermin, a few of 
which we receive through the seams of the plank 
ceiling. 

The employment, though repulsive, is imperative; 
yet the usual wantonness of humor that characterizes 



62 PRISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

our social circle blends witli tlie duty hilarious freaks 
of fun and frolic. 

After breakfast, washing of clothes is the order of the 
day. With coats off, sleeves rolled up to the shoulder, 
soap in hand, bucket on bench, many a poor fellow may 
be seen rubbing, scrubbing, grumbling, hands sore, 
shoulders aching, tugging away at his soiled under- 
clothing. He realizes for the first time in his life the 
domestic importance of wash-day at home. 

Clothes are to be mended, buttons to be sewed on ; 
and the busy tailors may be observed in every con- 
ceivable position throughout the room. Yonder officer 
manipulates a needle. See how awkward he is ! He 
is sewing a button on his coat : now he has sewn the 
skin of his thumb to the cloth, now he pricks his finger, 
now pulls the thread from the needle. But — agony on 
agony ! — see him threading that needle. iN'ow he has 
it! — no: — try again, misses it; — try again — yes, surely 
he hit it then : — alas, no ! and his steward comes up 
and threads it for him. That young lieutenant on his 
right is putting a patch of red flannel on his blue 
pantaloons. Surely he has invented a new stitch, for 
they are diagonal, oblong, angular, up-and-down, side- 
ways and backwards ; and the patch — ladies, did you 
ever hear of such a thing? — is put on bias and 
octagonal ! When he reaches home, that patch will 
become one of the household treasures. How the old 
women will make it one of the mysteries of a tea- 
drinking ! " See, here is a patch my boy Jimmie sewed 
on in ' Ilichmond prison,' " his fond old mother will say, 
holding the unmentionables up before a knot of ad- 
miring friends. 

From old blankets nice pantaloons grow, — a prison- 



PURSUITS AND PASTIMES. 63 

adage as infallible as the school-boy's '^From little 
acorns great," &c. ; ani the scientific lord of the scis- 
sors and thread is observed bending over his "mess"- 
table, whereon is spread a blanket, from which he quickly 
produces a unique garment known as the H. P. A. 
style. In one day the cloth is cut, the body fitted, and 
the garment on. "Who can imagine the pride felt by 
the wearer as he paces up and down " our promenade" ? 
What cares he for blockades in time of war, for high 
tariffs in time of peace? Is he not the living emblem of 
the energy and skill of home manufacture ? He would 
not exchange that earnest glow of pride, as he beholds 
the result of the cunning of his own hand, for the 
wildest enthusiasm of delight that the petit-7naitre 
feels as he dons his latest Parisian suit. Caps, coats, 
pants, vest, ay, and shirts, spring up under the ver- 
satile genius of the R. P. A. ; and the happiest hours of 
prison-life are those spent in producing some necessary 
article of clothing, or in carving from wood or bone a 
fancy trinket to serve in future years as a memento of 
prison-association. 

As the day wears on, whist, backgammon, &c. cause 
the hours to pass pleasantly away. Old friends at the 
whist-table, let me recall the quiet comfort of our 
friendly sittings, — the cosy corner, the social pipe, the 
quaint and erratic talk of Ives, the brusque and honest 
Vassall, Kerns the free and generous. 

What means that gathering crowd of vivacious 
questioners closing round our facetious friend the 
sandy -haired, robust ofiicer? Drawing near, we find 
before us the text-book of the prison, ''Hart on Ex- 
change," — the second volume opened, from the erudite 
pages of which are drawn the source of all argument 



64 PRISON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

and social life within the walls. '^ Did a Confederate 
officer alight at the door?" ''What did he want?" 
''What mean such and such news-items seen in the 
morning papers ?" " Will the United States govern- 
ment release the Hatteras prisoners ?" " When will 
the Hon. Mr. Ely be sent home?" "Will Faulkner 
be exchanged for him?" All are answered from- that 
book, — the walking encyclopedia of exchange, — the 
Alpha and Omega of our prison doctrines, hopes, and 
fondest expectations. Its pleasant pages are often 
perused during the day ; and if our meditations be- 
come gloomy, or the promenade tedious, we resort 
for comfort and support under affliction to that great 
book, " Hart on Exchange." 

The reading of the morning papers forms one of the 
pursuits — indeed, pastimes — of the day. From their 
columns we derive all our information ; yet we have 
found them unreliable as mediums of facts, and anger- 
blinded reasoners on the great questions of the time. 
The supercilious arrogance of temporary success causes 
their columns to teem with vaunts and derisive com- 
parisons. For the perusal of our Pennsylvania friends 
and soldiers, we transcribe the following editorial from 
the "Eichmond Dispatch," October 29, 1861 :— 

"prize outfit. 

" The Yankee papers are making a great to-do about 
an importation of army-clothing for seventy thousand 
men, from France. It is the most magnificent outfit ever 
seen. The Yankees will be as fine as fiddles, §.nd worth 
taking for their clothes if not for their own stinking 
carcasses. In the importation are two prize outfits for 
the two best companies in the service. One of these has 



PURSUITS AND PASTIMES. 65 

been awarded to a Pennsylvania company, wliicli is pro- 
nounced to be the finest company of the finest brigade 
of the finest division of the Grand Army. This 
award, if we had no other information, would satisfy 
us as to the true character of that army. When Penn- 
sylvanians are the best, we know how to rate the rest. 
There never has been any good fighting by Pennsyl- 
vanians since the foundation of the government; and 
we don't believe in miracles. In all wars that we 
have had, they have been proverbial for their awk- 
wardness, stupidity, and cowardice. "We do not doubt 
but they deserve the reputation, and will preserve it to 
the end of all time." 

Imagine, brother Pennsylvanians, the feelings of 
your compeers in awkwardness, stupidity, and coward- 
ice, as they sat behind the bars and read the foregoing 
article. Glancing up from the paper, we behold a 
regiment of Virginia volunteers marching past; we 
hear their derisive shouts, their fiendish yells of de- 
light, their voices screaming, ^' You infernal Yankees, 
we are going to catch more of you !" We behold yon 
chivalrous officer, at the head of his men, with a taunt- 
ing smile on his lip, and a gleam of hatred from his 
eye; and though we may be awkward, stupid, and 
cowardly, yet, thank God, we are not brutes, nor do 
we revile the unfortunate. 

The following is clipped from an article on President 
Lincoln's message:— ''They [the ''Yanks"] produce 
nothing which is not better produced by others, and 
they only outstrip the rest of mankind in knavish 
tricks and worthless notions. ' Let them rip J " 

The refined elegance of the latter expression must 



66 PEISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

adapt it to tlie cultivated tastes of Biclimond society, 
or else it would not have been inserted in the govern- 
'inent organ. The truth is, that Secession appears to 
have let loose the flood-gates of foul language ; for the 
disgusting editorials on public questions, and the filthy 
abuse of private quarrels, (often published in the 
papers,) force us to believe that the refined essence of 
the F. F. V. has departed forever. 

(Extract from the "Richmond Enquirer," Dec. 10, 1861.) 

''The last intelligence that has reached us from Fort 
"Warren represented Mr. Faulkner to be trundling a 
wheelbarrow of wood, and the Yankees very much de- 
lighted with the sight. A great man struggling with 
adversity is, according to a very ancient authority, ' a 
spectacle for the gods.' A gentleman performing the 
menial drudgery of life affords a spectacle very grate- 
ful to the malignant and envious feelings of demons in 
the guise of vulgar Yankees. No doubt they contem- 
plate a genuine F. F. V. in destitution and rags with 
intense delight : it gratifies all the envy of gentility 
which is one of their distinguishing characteristics." 

Within a felon's cell of Eichmond prison lies an old 
man, his crime a soldier's life and a soldier's patriotism. 
A few months since, he gladdened a thousand hearts by 
the free and chivalric bearing of his daily life, — at 
home an honored and revered citizen, abroad, upon 
the bluffs of the Potomac, a gallant and heroic soldier. 
He lies now in Eichmond prison, debarred from the 
society of friends and companions, performing daily the 
^' menial drudgeries" of prison-life. His name — Colonel 
Lee, of the 20th Eegiment Massachusetts Volunteers. 



PURSUITS AND PASTIMES. 67 

The following are a few of tlie epitliets bestowed 
upon the '' Yankees" by the papers from day to day: — 
" LoW; vulgar, and disgusting habitudes of the Yankees ;" 
^'shrew^l, tricky, knavish, sordid, impudent, and coarse ;" 
'^unsafe and unfit associates for gentlemen ;" ''Southern 
feeling is averse to every thing Yankee;" ''social and 
moral inferiority;" "animated by envy, hate, and re- 
vengeful resentment, which vulgarians and serfs, unre- 
strained by fear of the lash, instinctively entertain and 
indulge in towards gentlemen;" "a Southern gentleman 
feels his gentility and respectability soiled by associa- 
tion with the Wilsons, Sumners, and Sewards;" "talk 
through the nose, and stink of onions and codfish;" "no 
hope for a lasting peace until these Yankee insurrection- 
ists against their social masters are properly corrected 
and taught to keep their proper places." 

The following extract from an edition of the "Pvich- 
mond Whig," Saturday, December 28, 1861, is pre- 
sented as the culminating-point of abuse and filth, and 
especially for the perusal of those who estimate the 
Soutliern character as the heau-ideal of refinement in 
social life. The "Whio;" is one of the most influential 
papers in Eichmond. It is the government organ, and 
its circulation extends into families where a white man 
demeaned by manual labor can never enter. 

"quality versus quantity. 
"About 1850, when that great northeastern deluge, 
of which mention has been made, swept over our com- 
monwealth and laid waste our long-cherished institu- 
tions, it was very much the fashion for the 'dear friends 
of the people' to hold up the 'Yankees' as the models of 



68 PEISON-LIFE 'AT EICHMOND. 

every virtue. Tliey were the tliriftiest, tlie slirewdest, 
the 'cutest, the most enterprising, the most industrious, 
and the most money-getting people in the vrorld. But 
their wealth, their stinginess, their venality, their dex- 
terity in swindling and unscrupulousness in lying, all 
paled before their unmatchable fecundity. 

"Behold how they multiply. They are as multitu- 
dinous as the stars in the heavens or the sands on the 
sea-shore. Malthus — never a favorite with the sen- 
timentalist, though teeming with the profoundest 
wisdom — was universally discarded as a charlatan and 
humbuG:. The Q-reat Yankee nation, which doubled itself 
every five years, was the true example of all political 
science, and the only model of national greatness. 

5j< JjC 'i< >j^ ?i< ^ 

" But they multiply, — the only scriptural precept 
they obey, — and boast their millions. So do the 
Chinese ; so do the aphidoe, and all the other pests of 
the animal kingdom. Pull the bark from a decayed log, 
and you will see a mass of maggots, full of vitality, in 
constant motion and eternal gyration, crawling over 
one another, creeping under one another, all precisely 
alike, all' intently engaged in preying upon one another; 
and you have an apt illustration of Yankee numbers, 
Yankee equality, and Yankee prowess." 

Turning from this disgusting article, portions of 
which are too indecent for these pages, we perused 
with relief the following one, feeling assured that 
our barefooted and nearly naked prisoners Avould ere 
long receive th'e benefit of the increasing industry and 
ingenuity of the Southern ladies : — 



PUESUITS AND PASTIMES. 69 

" From a Lady of Norfolk to President Davis. 
"I send to President Davis a pair of socks, knit 
entirely of the curls taken from my little pet, a lap- 
dog. I send them as a slight evidence of Southern 
independence and home manufacture, both of which 
every Southern heart should endeavor to obtain and 
encourage. With every wish for your future health 
and happiness, I remain, very respectfully, yours, 

^'MissS. C. Pannell." 

Editokial Kemaeks.— ''The ladies of the South are 
showing a praiseworthy determination to turn every 
thing to account. It gives us pleasure to notice these 
evidences of what the people are doing to thwart the 
inconveniences of the blockade." 

Often, whilst absorbed in reading such articles as the 
foregoing, we are startled by the cry, '' Look out for 
your beds !" Jumping up, we discover little puddles of 
dirty, tobacco-stained water around the floor, whilst 
from the plank ceilings above it is dripping down, re- 
gardless of mattresses, clean under-clothing, sixty-cent 
butter, or twenty-cent sugar : all suffer alike. Every 
one rushes to his private property : gathering it up, 
he runs around, seeking a protected corner to shelter it 
and him ; and lucky is he who escapes without a bespat- 
tered uniform, or face ornamented with tobacco-juice. 
It is scrubbing-day above, and the water soaks through 
the seams of the floor, which are filled with tobacco. 

One of the most important duties attendant upon 
prison-life is the purchase of articles necessary for com- 
fort and health. For this purpose, a negro is placed at 
our disposal, to whom egress and ingress are allowed 



70 PEISON-LIFE *AT PJCHMOND. 

at all hours of tlie clay. An c fficer, let it be supposed, 
desires to purchase a woollen shirt, one pair woollen 
drawers, two pair woollen stockings, one pair cassinet 
pants, — all of them of the same quality as those furnished 
by the United States government to the privates in the 
army. After waiting patiently for a day or two before he 
can catch the darkey, he at last secures him, places 
in his hands twenty dollars in gold, with a memoran- 
dum of the articles, and away the darkey starts. 
Next day, perhaps in the afternoon, he returns with 
the following bill: — One woollen shirt, $4.25; one pair 
woollen drawers, $4.00; two pair woollen stockings, 
$1.50; one pair cassinet pants, $9.00. Total, $18.75. 
(Cost in the Federal States, $6.65.) The change— $1.25 
— is returned to the officer in the following notes, many 
of them faded and torn: — One bill Corporation of Eich- 
mond, 50 cents; one bill Corporation of Petersburg, 25 
cents; one bill Farmers' and Savings Bank, 10 cents; one 
bill Corporation of Winchester, 10 cents ; one bill Cor- 
poration of Frederick, 5 cents ; one bill Confederate 
House, (tavern-bill, private issue,) 10 cents; two bills 
Southern Exchange, (private issue,) 15 cents. Total, 
eight notes, $1.25. 

This is a matter of daily occurrence; and, as a new- 
comer among us receives a roll of bills too extensive 
for his pocket-book, it is amusing to see his stare of 
wonder and surprise. Slowly he unfolds the roll, 
smooths them out and scans them one by one,— looks 
at the darkey, then at the nearest prisoner, who perhaps 
comes to his rescue, informing him that it is good 
" Secesh" money, — that four of those notes will buy him 
a pound of sugar, or ten of them will purchase a quire 
of tolerably good writing-paper. 



PURSUITS AND PASTIMES. 71 

When tlie darkey makes liis appearance in a store, 
he is immediately recognized as the agent of the Yankee 
prisoners: the tariff goes up, and gold is expected in 
payment for his purchases. Distressed as are the resi- 
dents of Richmond by sp3culators and the blockade, the 
poor Yankee suffers still more ; for the negro makes his 
profit, as well as the storekeeper. Yet the Confederate 
soldier f;ires as badly as the Yankee, according to the 
following extract from a Centreville (Va.) camp-letter 
published in a Pbichmond paper : — 

^'By paying five prices for the article, you obtain 
any thing in the market, from sardines to stove-polish. 
Oysters arrive every night, fresh from the shell, — ' only 
$1.00 per quart;' boots, §25.00 per pair, &c." 

We are assured that all the specie circulating in 
Eichmond is distributed by the Yankee prisoners. It 
commands fifty per cent, premium. Of course we re- 
ceive none when our purchases are made. 

The inconvenience of the rubbish called '^ currency" 
is thus ludicrously illustrated by the Norfolk corre- 
spondent of the Richmond Dispatch ''Bohemian," cap- 
tured at P\;Oanoke : — 

''do you call this moxey? 
" Leaning over the counter, a volunteer was endeavor- 
ing to reckon the change just paid out by the sleek- 
haired clerk. Before him lay a quantity of mutilated 
bills, ragged and dirty pieces of paper, bits of card- 
board, printed checks, a few copper pennies, milk- 
tickets, postage-stamps, and other interesting speci- 
mens of the present outrageous 'coin of the realm.' 
Over and over again the puzzled volunteer essayed to 
count the pile of outrageous rurrency, and over and 



72 PRISON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

over again he failed to find it satisfactory. It was too 
much for his rustic arithmetic ; the problem was too 
much to solve upon only ten fingers. The bystanders 
laughed. The monsy was spread out upon a show- 
case, as young ladies lay cards upon a table in tell- 
ing fortunes, and the soldier stood before it, search- 
ingly examining every piece. ' Do you call this money ?' 
he asked, taking up a small yellow parallelogram look- 
ing very like the brass card on the top of a sardine-box; 
' Do you call this money ?' (holding up an advertise- 
ment of fine Havana cigars ;) ' and this ?' (a bill for 
fifteen cents, in which some weak-minded printer had 
gone raving mad in different kinds of type.) ' Good for 
one shave,' (reading slowly ;) 'Dick the barber.' 'Do 
you call this money?' The sleek-haired clerk was 
puzzled also. 'It will pass all over town: indeed it 
will, sir.' Once more the soldier scrutinized the rae^2;ed 
and incongruous pile, and, grasping it in one hand, soli- 
loquized, 'So this is money? — money, eh? I call it 
stuff! Why, a man might hold his hand full, and then 
have but thirty-seven and a half cents money!' " 

Occasionally we call a meeting of the Association 
to while away the time in discussion and frolicsome 
speeches from the members. 

Previous to the arrival within the precincts of Se- 
cessia of the ofiicers captured at Ball's Bluff, a cere- 
mony of unusual importance and solemn detail was 
performed by the Association, — the presentation of a 
sword and sash to one of its most distinguished civ^i- 
lian members, as a token of their lofty esteem and un- 
qualified laudation of his high courage and unparalleled 
strategic movements on the bloody field of Manassas. 



PURSUITS AND PASTIMES. 73 

With due decorum, and in silence, the Association 
organized. Men were there whose spurs had been 
won amid the rolling hills of Centreville, the gorges 
of "Western Virginia, and u^on the bluffs of the Poto- 
mac, — to whom the strife of war Avas familiar as a nur- 
sery-tale, whose scarred features bore the marks of 
Southern blades, and whose stalwart hearts still thirsted 
for the fierce encounter, — gentlemen, soldiers, and vete- 
rans, who met to render homage to military talent, as 
displayed by the heroic and distinguished civilian, the 
honored guest of the evening. 

Amadst a deep silence and attentive expectation, the 
chairman. Captain Cox of Ohio, of the committee to 
whom had been intrusted the presentation of the testi- 
monial, arose, and tendered the gift in the following- 
language : — 

'' Sir, I have the honor of presenting to you, in the 
name of the E. P. A., these costly tokens of their high 
appreciation of your valuable services to our army 
on the plains of Manassas; and, sir, I will take this 
occasion to state that in the selection of myself for 
this purpose the Association has been extremely fortu- 
nate; for, sir, whether selected to wield this weapon 
against our country's foes, or to present it to one so 
nobly deserving as yourself, I acknowledge but few 
equals, and no superiors. (Immense applause.) Sir, in 
presenting to you this sword, the Association feels that 
it will ever be wielded in defence of your country's 
cause ; and although the material is wood, and it may 
not be so neatly made nor so handsomely ornamented 
as some you have seen, yet, sir, this Association believes 
that, for all the purposes ibr which you will be called 
upon to use a sword, this will answer as well as any 



74 PEISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

otlier. You will see, sir, by the peculiar half-circle 
shape of this beautiful blade, that it is well adapted to 
fighting from behind a tree, — thus typifying the skill 
you have shown whilst at bay behind that old oak-tree 
three miles from the battle-field." (Applause.) 

Here the speaker drew out an elaborate sash, manu- 
factured from an old hemp rope found in the warehouse. 
''And, sir, accompanying the sword is this superb sash, 
which, although of diflerent material from that ordi- 
narily used, we assure you is a very substantial one ; 
and, believing you to be a man of destiny, we think it 
indicative of the fate that awaits you." (Great sensa- 
tion, amidst which the speaker took his seat.) 

The honored guest of the Association here arose, 
and, when silence was restored, thus addressed the 
meetin<]^ : — 

o 

'^ Gentlemen of the K. P. A., it is with feelin2;s of 
the deepest emotion that I arise to address you on this 
momentous occasion. (Applause.) Allow me to thank 
you, gentlemen, for these tokens of your kind regards. 
The gentleman, in alluding to the shape of this sword, 
said — and, I thought, rather ironically — that it was 
adapted to fighting from behind a tree, alluding, I sup- 
pose, to the fact that I took shelter from the shot and 
shell of the enemy at Bull Eun. In so doing, I but 
followed the example of the immortal General Jackson, 
and other brave and distinguished men, in appropriating 
to my use the most secure and convenient shelter. If 
the gentleman means to insinuate that cowardice 
induced me to take that position, it is a false and un- 
gentlemanly assertion, — one for which I will hold liim 
personally responsible." (Sensation.) 

The chairman of the committee here arose and ex- 



PUESUITS AND PASTIMES. 70 

plained : — " He was sorry the gentleman had so con- 
strued his remarks : he certainly meant nothing of the 
kind. On the contrary, he admired the gentleman's 
prudence and discretion." 

The honored guest resumed : — " The gentleman's 
allusion to the sash, as indicative of the fate that awaits 
me, is not calculated to produce pleasant sensations ; 
but, gentlemen, I am ever ready, if need be, like Eegu- 
lus at the gates of Eome, to offer up my life for the 
good of my country, let the sacrifice come in whatever 
shape it may." Amidst immense applause, the honored 
guest took his seat. 

The meeting then adjourned, and the Association 
went to bed. 

Companions, will you ever forget Sunday, February 
17, 1862, — the day to be remembered for rumors 
and sells? For weeks we had expected to receive from 
the Confederate War Department a list of ofiicers to 
be sent North, through a flag of truce, and for hours 
daily we had discussed excitedly the chances of each. 
What rumors ! Yesterday, fifteen second lieutenants 
only were to go; to-day, six captains, five first lieu- 
tenants, and only four second lieutenants; the next, 
none knew what grade, hov^ many, or who. We were 
in a perfect tumult of expectation for days, — rumors 
upon rumors, sells upon sells. 

'^Winder's aid just arrived at the prison-office," 
caused us to run to the window in crowds, only to 
see a fat negro dismounting from a lean horse. "All 
the officers were to go North, for Secretary Stanton 
had ordered General Wool to exchange the Pvoanoke 



76 PRISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

officers," came like a balmy breeze upon lieated hearts 
and brows. 

What an excitement was created by the prison-clerk's 
coming in and getting the rank of all the officers! 
How we crowded around him, jostling and elbowing to 
catch a sight of his book ! Groing out for a few min- 
utes, he returned, and commenced calling the officers* 
names. One-half of us thought it was a list of those 
who were to be released. What a rejoicing smile lit 
up the face of each man as his name was called! At 
last the list is through, and we are told it is merely a 
list to send to General Winder. 

Every minute the door would creak on its hinges. 
Surely the list is come. What causes the delay? Con- 
found the Confederate red tape ! 

How the '' Buli-Eunners" strutted about, full of 
bread, beef, and certainty ! The " Leesburgers" ' coun- 
tenances mirrored hope and fond expectations. Excite- 
ment increased daily and hourly. Exchange was break- 
fast, dinner, and supper. 

So Sunday came, — our day for surprises and releases. 
Eumors afloat, freighted with delight and terror. Bead 
them. Here they are: — 

No. 1. Federal reverses at Fort Donelson; seventeen 
gun-boats sunk, and ten thousand Federal prisoners. 

No. 2. All the Federal officers south of Kichmond 
arrived at Norfolk, for exchange. 

No. 3. Mrs. Greenough to be exchanged for Federal 
Captain L . 

No. 4. Her daughter Eose to be exchanged for our 
''Madam," Lieut. And , of our warehouse. 

No. 5. The entire Federal army on the Potomac 
advancing with lassos, to capture a Confederate cap- 



PURSUITS AND PASTIMES. 77 

tain of cavalry to excliange for Captain T , of the 

United States cavalry, now in confinement vile at 
Richmond. 

'No. 6. Federal gun-boats said to be captured at Fort 
Donelson to be exchane^ed for Federal colonels. 

No. 7. Federal skiffs do. do. for second-lieutenants. 

ISTo. 8. Confederate '^ horse-marines," taken at P\.oa- 
noke, to be exchanged for Federal cavalry at Bich- 
mond. 

JSTo. 9. Marshal Kane'ii police, of Baltimore, to be 
exchanged for hostages. 

No. 10. All the Federal officers in the warehouse 
invited to attend Captain 0. Jennings Wise's funeral. 

No. 11. General Winder's aid just arrived at the 
prison-office with list of Federal officers released. 

The eleventh rumor came like a thunderbolt. Kerns, 
who had been assured by Confederate officials of his 
release, received the news first. 

It came from one of the officers of the prison, who 
told him through the bars. Joy and sadness, despair 
and ecstasy, came with it. Condensed, it was as fol- 
lows : ''Kerns's name was not on it, but Captains T 

and L headed the list. Both White and Glover, 

old residents of the warehouse, and Bull-Bunners, were 
omitted." 

What an effect it had upon all! Poor Kerns! 
look at him. There he sits at his "mess-table," dig- 
ging away in desperation at the pine table with his 
jack-knife. He talks to no one. Sympathizer after 
sympathizer comes up to him : he heeds them not. 

Captain L , with a solemn oath of honor, pledges 

his interest for him when he gets to Washington, — 
swears he will go to the Pre- ident, see Schuyler Colfax 



78 PEISON-LIFE AO* RICHMOND. 

and every Congressman in Washington^ spend liiswliolo 
furlough there, and stick to Lincohi until he gets a 
written discharge for a '^ Secesh" lieutenant from Fort 
Warren. He will then go to the fort and bring the 
'' Secesh" to Fortress Monroe himself, and see him 
shipped to Norfolk for Kerns. 

Generous L ! inconsolable Kerns ! who will say 

nothing but — " I want to be a hostage : I never expect 
to get home again." 

The excitement is wild all over the room. Feverish 
groups discuss it, wondering who else is chosen, and 

hoping for their ovn^u chances. G , a Bull-Eunner 

who expected to go, tries to appear indifferent, but it is 
with a wry face and bitter heart. W and his sym- 
pathizers have their heads together, cursing the Con- 
federates and anathematizino; the Federal authorities. 

Captain L , one of the lucky ones, is perfectly 

brilliant with joy, promising all to move earth and the 
President to accomplish their early release. 

T smiles with exuberance of delight, — is reading 

Maryatt upside down. No, no, T ; you are perfectly 

saturated with joy, if you do try to hide it. Look, T , 

at poor Kerns, as he sits slashing away at his '^mess- 
table." You are a lucky dog, T , and Kerns is a 

poor devil of misfortune and disappointment. 

At night a list is circulated through the room, con- 
taining the names of those chosen for release, and con- 
gratulations resound, and the tumult increases, until 
every heart on the floor is at fever-heat. Suddenly it 
becomes known that the events of this day have been a 
complete succession of sells, concocted and developed by 
Kerns and his coterie of t^its and jokers. And the last 
•^cll, complete and perfect, sen Is us to bed to commisc- 



PURSUITS AND PASTIMES. 79 

rate our worthy Captains T and L , who still 

persist in believing in the authenticity of the list, al- 
though it was written by a brother-prisoner within 
arm's-length of them. 

The privates in an adjoining warehouse have organized 
a dramatic association, and, with the assistance of their 
officers, have been enabled to purchase a drop-curtain, 
scenes, and other stage-fixtures. 

On Christmas night they presented " Rob Roy" and 
a farce " written for tiie occasion" by the manager. 
But one officer was allowed to attend, who, on his re- 
turn, represented the performance to have been of an 
excellent character and the farce overflowing with 
prison-hits and comic burlesque. In connection with 
the theatre they have an admirable glee-club, whose 
cultivated voices often cause the evening on the officers' 
floor to pass pleasantly and swiftly away. 

In our dreamy walks to while away the day we have 
succeeded in ascertaining that in the floor of our room 
there are just two hundred and eighty-eight planks 
and in the ceiling eighty-four joists ; and we doubt not 
that some of us can tell the number of nails driven or 
the bricks used in the structure of the first floor of our 
warehouse. 

As night wears on, we gather around the cot of our 
expositor of exchange, and consult the oracle concern- 
ing our future hopes and destinies : the volume is 
opened, and we review the market for the past week, 
which often presents the following record : — 



80 PEISON-IIFE A*T RICHMOITD. 

RICHMOND PRISON EXCHANGE MARKET, 

For the week ending Saturday, January 4, 1862. 

Sunday. — Firm, yet quiet. 
Monday. — Excited and feverish. 
Tuesday. — Buoyant; prices advancing. 

Wednesday. — Perfectly wild ; every man, woman, and child in 
the North holds scrip. Rumors of government investing. 
Thursday. — Moderating. 
Friday. — Dull and weak 
Saturday. — Market flat. 

Silently we close the great book, and the second and 
last volume of ^' Hart on Exchange" is locked up in — 
sleep. 



PiaSON-INCIDE]NTS. 



81 



CHAPTER VI. 






PRISON-INCIDENTS. 

We are occasionally called upon to bid adieu to our 
brother-officers, wlio, at the desire of President Davis, 
journey to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and other localities, 
for the purpose of establishing branches of the Eich- 
mond Prison Association ; and many earnest talkers 
may be heard around the room, debating the proba- 
bilities there of good quarters, gentle treatment, and 
obligmg and courteous commanding officers. 

The greater number have volunteered, any change, to 
them, being preferable to the dull routine and unvary- 
ing sameness of Eichmond prison-life, while many pre- 
fer to remain here, realizing that the change will only 
add zest to imprisonment for a few days, — as 

*'Iron bars in any clime 
Oppress the eagle soul alike." 

A few of the departing officers have been chosen by the 
Confederate authorities for the obnoxious expression of 
their Northern sentiments. A captain from New York, 
at the last meeting of the E. P. A., drew around him 
the Star-Spangled Banner too fiercely in his speech ; 
and a lieutenant from Pennsylvania spoke of McClellan's 
speedy advance on Eichmond, with allusions to the 
growth of hemp and its adaptation to Eebel necks. 



82 peison-l: FE at eiciimond. 

Tliey botli go to Tuscaloosa, wliere, according to Con- 
federate report, the population is scanty, and " not to 
be corrupted, even by the Yankees." 

A meeting of the Association is called. Hats off, 
silent and orderly, we gather in the western section of 
the room. Upon a mess-table is placed a chair, and, 
with the assistance of the Sergeant-at-Arms and the 
Page, the honorable President (from Manassas) is duly 
mounted. Our sturdy Vice-President (from the rocky 
defiles of "Western Virginia) sits cross-legged at the 
feet of the President. The venerable Secretary (from 
Bull Pbun) is at his table. Our clerical Sergeant-at- 
Arms (another unfortunate BuU-Eunner) is on the Pre- 
sident's right ; while the Page (sad relic of Chicama- 
comico) stands ready for his varied duties. 

The President announces that the object of the meet- 
ing is to bid farewell to our brother-officers who, on 
the morrow, part from us for the purpose of reani- 
mating the village of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, by the un- 
quenched though chained spirit of the " eternal Yankee." 
A motion is made, seconded, presented, and carried 
that our estimable page (Lieutenant Hart) be deputed 
to express his own feelings, as well as those of the As- 
sociation, at the separation. PJsing with demure face 
and twinkling eye, and drawing one hand slowly over 
his immense beard, the page, in a deep, rolling voice, 
commences : — 

" Mr. President, and gentlemen of the E. P. A. : 
"Were it known, sirs, throughout my country that I, 
ah humble representative from the Wabash, had been 
deputed as the choice of this great body to tender a 
sad farewell to our departing brethren, — I say, sirs, 



PEISON-INCIDENTS. 83 

were it known there, every man, woman, and child 
would throw up -Aheir hands, crying aloud, — 

" ' My Hart is exalted, and I sleep in peace.' 

'' Gentlemen who leave us to-morrow, you have all 
been startled, at some period of your prison-life, by the 
question, ' What did you come down here for T When- 
you arrive at your haven of captivity, — when anxious 
curiosity assembles the mob to catch a glimpse of your 
persons, — when sallow shadows stand beside those Lam- 
bert forms of yours, and cruel voices probe your modest 
natures with the rude and unchristian-like inquiry, 
^W/iat did you come down here for?' — tell them, sirs, 
tliat you came to plant in the arid soil of the South the 
germ of conservatism, pumpkin- vines, and 'Yankee 
notions.' Go, sirs, from these walls, ragged though 
you be, the representatives of ourselves, the R. P. K. ; 
and, as you tread the paths of Secessia, remember that 
' by your deeds ye shall be known.' We will miss you 
sadly : these halls ' that have known you once shall 
know you no more ;' but you go to grace others better 
fitted for your jailers, — ;he unfinished lunatic-asylum 
of Alabama. Shed honor ipon it, gentlemen; and when 
' exchange' shall resound through the land, fail not to 
re-echo its glad notes until we are sent, even though 
it be through ' the wreck of matter and the crush of 
worlds,' rejoicing to our homes." 

Our page retires, and speeches follow on every side. 
Can we ever forget the quiet humor of Merrill, the 
rich drollery of Cox. the '^ Star-Spangled-Banner" 
fierceness of O'Meara, the quaint suggestions of Dick- 
inson, or the happy parliamentary ruling of our honor- 



84 peison-l.fe'at bichmond. 

able President ? It was a gay and frolicsome meeting, 
and closed witli our iDrison-song, — 

" Roll on, roll on, sweet moments, roll on, 
And let the poor prisoners go home, go home !" 

The next morning, at twelve o'clock, we gathered 
around the door to bid them a last farewell. As each 
■ name was called, the owner would respond, '' Ay," and 
pass to the door, pausing there to grasp warm hands, 
and to return a hearty " God bless you, old fellow ! 
take care of yourself." 

Some left sadly, others cheerfully. Our '' Tycoon" 
— the merriest and blithest spirit in our little band — 
left with a tear upon his sailor cheek. Cox, the hardy, 
noble, and brave, with his straw hat (it was Novem- 
ber) and tight breeches, — an extra pair under his arm, 
the only baggage he had, — left us with an air of droll 
indifference in perfect keeping with his rugged yet 
estimable self. 

Passing into the street, they formed four abreast, the 
guard being drawn up in an oblong square to receive 
them. Two hundred and fifty privates followed, in 
destitution and rags. 

The Confederate lieutenant, after repeatedly filing, 
wheeling, and countermarching his men, at last suc- 
ceeded in closing up the sqaare. As they marched off, 
three hearty cheers were given by the remaining pri- 
soners, which had scarcely subsided when the clarion 
voices of two hundred men on the upper floor rose in 
the grand swelling chorus of 'Hhe Star-Spangled Ban- 
ner," filling the streets for squares with its noble 
melody. The crowd looked on astonished. The Confede- 
rate ofiicers seemed startled at the boldness of the act. 



PRIS0N-IJTCIDENT3. 85 

Louder and louder rose the gorgeous old song, until it 
seemed to touch even the turbid hearts of the thousand 
Eebel by-standers. Speedily the commandant of the 
post ordered silence, and the ofhcer of the day enforced 
it by his presence on the upper floor; yet often, during 
the rest of the day, would portions of that thrilling 
anthem come to our ears, through the cracks of the old 
warehouse. 

While we part sadly from those who leave us, we greet 
with mingled pleasure and regret the few visitors we re- 
ceive from the banks of the Potomac, comprising Fede- 
ral officers who command adventurous scouting-parties, 
or unlucky overt picket-guards who are surrounded 
and captured by the Confederate cavalry scouts. 

When these unfortunates are brought among us, they 
are received with open hearts at hospitable boards, yet 
with a rush of eager questions, such as, '^ Will McClellan 
advance ?" ''' How many of you were taken ?" ^' When 
were you taken ?" &c. &c., until our new brethren are 
confused and exhausted, and are taken by some good 
Samaritan to his " mess"-table, where " eat and be 
welcome" speaks from every article of the shining tin 
crockery. 

We greeted upon one occasion a rather singular 
addition to our circle. Two boys, dressed in military 
costume, were marched under guard into our ware- 
house. Upon inquiry, we found their names to bo 
Thomas L. Wilkinson, aged fourteen, of Poughkeepsie, 
New York, and Charles Smith, aged thirteen, of Lowell, 
Massachusetts. 

They had been boating on the Potomac Paver, and 
landed on the Virginia shore from curiosity, not im- 
agining they were '^ contraband of war." The Con- 



86 PEISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

federate pickets arrested tliem, and the commanding 
officer sent them one hundred and thirty miles to 
Richmond, where they were confined in our warehouse. 
After a few days the Confederate authorities released 
them, no doubt heartily ashamed of their capture and 
detention. 

The arrival of these boys, and the association with 
them, constituted a pleasant episode in our prison-life. 

To those among us having families, they brought 
a picture of home, whilst to all they seemed a new 
connecting-link with our past pleasures and familiar 
enjoyments. 

We have a curious assortment of character, under sus- 
picion of the authorities, thrust among us, whose asso- 
ciation, though it sometimes causes annoyance, usually 
furnishes amusement. Among the many may be noted 
one that excited much wonder and some suspicion. 

He was a man apparently thirty-five years of age, 
whose general appearance, though a little seedy, indi- 
cated former gentility. He arrived at ten o'clock at 
night, and was furnished with a straw bed and blanket. 
Early next morning it was whispered around that ''we 
had a crazy man among us." His actions were singu- 
lar, as he would sit for hours cross-legged, with fingers 
interlocked, and eyes fixed upon one of us, conversing 
with himself. 

When questioned regarding his capture and history, 
his replies were perfectly unintelligible, except that 
seven hundred thousand Germans would land in New 
York next week and surround and capture the city. 
Thus he continued until late in the day, when he was 
removed from the room, yet not until many suspected 
our friend, with his warlike Teutons, to be an impostor. 



PRISON-INCIDENTS. 87 

They judged from experience; since, in several in- 
stances, men ''under suspicion" had proved to be de- 
tective officers placed among us, and instructed to note 
the opinions and political sentiments expressed by the 
officers generally, and particiilarly by those suspected 
of Abolition proclivities. 

In October, Colonel Adler, of the Confederate Army, 
or, as he styles himself, Adolphus H. Adler, Colonel, 
Engineer-in-Chief of Wise Brigade, Hungarian, late 
of Garibaldi's staff, became an inmate of our warehouse. 
He was suspected of JSTorthern sympathies : yet the im- 
mediate cause, no doubt, of his arrest, was the free ex- 
pression of his opinions relative to the military talents 
of General Wise, Ex-Governor of Virginia, whom he 
persisted in styling " No soljare, no soljare." When 
first arrested, he was placed in jail, and mischievously 
informed that he would be hung, — when he immediately 
attempted to cut his throat, but only partially succeeded. 

He was in constant dread of being tried and handed 
over to the hangman ; and we verily believe that he 
would have turned Turk, Secesh, and Unionist alter- 
nately, in order to escape his portending doom. He is 
now in Kichmond jail, leisurely awaiting the course of 
events. 

J. W. Jones, aged twenty-two, small in stature, un- 
whiskered, unheralded, and unknown, relieved the mo- 
notony of our prison-life by sharing it with us during 
the early part of January. 

He came to us clothed in an officer's uniform, and 
with the usual qualifications of a rabid Secesh, — rash- 
ness of speech, impulsive ardor, barrenness of argu- 
ment, and swa2;Q;ejina; affectation of chivalric refine- 
ment of manners. He caused much amusement, and 



88 PRISON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

was soon looked upon as a harmless addition to our 
many petty annoyances. 

The circumstances of his arrest are as follow, — ■ 
beino!; condensed from his own version of them. 

Some years ago, he became embroiled in a difficulty 
with an old man in South Carolina, during which 
he discomfited the old gentleman, who thereupon 
vowed vengeance through all eternity. 

In December, while seeking employment as an 
officer in the Confederate army, Jones, unfortunately, 
met his implacable enemy in a hotel at Winchester, 
Virginia, which being near the Federal lines, he 
caused Jones to be arrested upon the charge of 
*' attempted desertion to the enemy." Jones insists 
that the charge is false, that the old man is a rascal, and 
that his imprisonment — to use his own words, — ''is 
a great national blunder." 

He threatens vengeance when released, and proposes 
to gratify it under three distinct headings. 1. Sueing 
the old man for false imprisonment. 2. Getting Jef- 
ferson Davis to punish the old man for false charges 
against a loyal citizen. 3. Providing the old man with 
a bullet and a grave. Upon being asked if the vin- 
dictive but doomed old gentleman had any property, 
Jones replied, "'No; but he had a splendid set of sur- 
gical instruments, which he (Jones) would get hold of 
and sell at an enormous price, said articles being in 
great demand at Southern hospitals." 

Jones possesses a literary talent and taste calculated 
to render his society pleasing and his friendship valu- 
able. He requested and obtained permission to inscribe 
the following original verses in the autograph-book of 
one of the officers, in commemoration of his own im- 



PRISON-INCIDENTS. 89 

prisonment, and as a tribute of enthusiastic friendship 
for the Federal officers : — 

*' The fortunes of war have thrown us together; 
The fortunes of war sever us forever. 
In prison we met, in prison we part ; 
Thou lingerest still, while I depart. 
I leave you for the dark, bloody field, — 
My watchword and cry, * I die ere I yield.' 
Adieu, adieu! my country's voice I hear, 
And, with a heart unknown to fear, 
I gladly obey my loved country's call, 
And swear with her to stand or with her to fall. 
"J. W. Jo^'ES, Newberrt, S. C. 

o.s.c.s.a:' 

On the 31st of January, to our astonishment, the 
commandant of the post removed Jones, announcing 
that he was a spy, and would be confined in jail. His 
removal took place immediately. We came to the con- 
clusion that Jones, if a spy, was a shrewd one; if he 
was not, then the Confederate authorities recklessly ex- 
tended the '' national blunder" by confining him. Poor 
Jones ! w^e sadly fear the old man will get the best of 
you, and that your well-organized system of revenge 
will prove harmless to his person and his surgical in- 
struments. 

While we derive amusement from those who thus so- 
journ in our midst, we also obtain information of a 
character interesting to ourselves, and in some instances 
valuable to our government. 

We have had the details of the hazardous smuggling- 
trade unfolded to us by Charles E. Branch, [of Balti- 
more. His occupation was that of smuggling between 
Baltimore and the Virginia shore. 

Leaving the vessel upon which he was employed at 



90 TEISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

the moutli of the Potomac River, he had visited Frede- 
ricksburg for the purpose of enhstiug in the Con- 
federate Army, and was leisurely occupied in choosing, 
from the number around him, the company best suited 
to his tastes and habits. Unfortunately, he was slow 
in his deliberations, and at the end of two weeks was 
arrested in the hotel, whilst sitting at the breakfast-table. 

His money (one hundred and eighty dollars in gold) 
was taken from hini, and he was brought speedily to 
Bichmond. He arrived very destitute in funds, and 
equally so in appearance, and was furnished with food 
at our ^' mess"-table and lodging upon our floor for two 
weeks, when he was called into the presence of Con- 
federate Commissioner Baxter, who listened to his story, 
produced no witness against him, and promised him 
speedy release and restoration of his money. He left us 
on the 21st of February, professedly as good a Union 
rnan as any in the building. During his stay with us, he 
freely narrated his own experience, as well as the gene- 
ral details of the smuggling-trade between Baltimore and 
the Virginia waters, of which the following is a sketch. 

The captain of a Baltimore schooner having deter- 
mined to speculate in articles " contraband of war," 
he procures from the Federal authorities a clearance 
for his vessel to go upon an oyster-trip. His next 
object is to purchase a cargo and load his vessel. The 
first is easy of attainment, as Secession merchants swarm 
the streets and docks of Baltimore, and freely render 
him assistance. Where a cargo of salt is purchased, it 
is always from a merchant whose store is immediately 
contiguous to the vessel ; and during the small hours of 
the night, having bribed the ward-police or put them 
under the tender care of decoys, the merchant throws 



PEISON-INCIDENTS. 91 

open his doors, and the salt in sacks is quickly conveyed 
into the hold. If a cargo of medicines and other articles 
is purchased, they are conveyed in wagons to Back 
Biver, eight miles from Baltimore, where the skipper 
loads them during the night. 

The cargo being safely on board, and hatches snug 
and weather-bound, the little craft proceeds on her 
voyage of peril and of profit. 

She meets, perhaps, a dozen United States steamers 
on her trip down, but boldly runs on her course, and, 
when hailed, hauls close alongside the steamer. Our 
oyster-captain elevates his hand, containing the clear- 
ance-papers of his vessel, which proceeding is generally 
responded to by, ''All right ! go ahead !" 

If — as sometimes occurs — our skipper should hap- 
pen to meet what he calls ''a partic'lar Yankee captain," 
who orders a boat to be lowered and an officer to visit 
the '' oyster-pungy," what matters it ? Is not his vessel 
compelled to carry ballast on the downward trip ? Is 
not sand the usual ballast for Chesapeake oyster-crafts ? 
And has he not his contraband cargo snugly stowed in 
the hold, with canvas ovei it and sand a foot deep 
over the canvas, fore and aft ? 

In this way does he avoid the perils of a smuggling- 
voyage. But his danger is not yet over. 

He steers for the mouth of the Potomac Eiver, on 
the Maryland side of which lie immense oyster-beds. 
If he is caught crossing the Potomac, woe be to his 
liberty and cargo. But he is not caught. For days he 
will dredge for oysters, seemingly intent upon no other 
object. United States vessels pass and re-pass him 
daily : he is undisturbed, and, if noticed, it is merely 
by some sympathizing tar in the forecastle, who per- 



92 PRISON-LIFE A'r EICHMOND. 

haps exclaims, '^Lo! the poor fislierman!" recalling his 
own sad experience. But our smuggler only lies wait- 
ing patiently till wind and weather are favorable. Then, 
at midnight, he will dart out from his oyster-cove and 
speed swiftly to his haven of safety, — Yacomico Kiver, 
Northumberland county, Virginia, emptying into the 
Potomac just above its mouth, distant from Baltimore 
one hundred and forty miles. Here he is greeted with 
cordiality and gold ; for does he not bring quinine for 
the sick, salt for the hogs, and gold braid for the 
motley-garbed militia-officers ? 

The oyster-skipper unloads his cargo, pockets the 
specie, runs back on a dark night to the Maryland 
shore, catches a few oysters as a blind, and returns to 
Baltimore, prepared to repeat his hazardous voyage. 

The venture is always profitable. One in which our 
friend Branch was concerned, in a large schooner, 
realized thirty thousand dollars. In this case, the vessel 
was sold to the Confederates for a fraction of her cost, 
it being dangerous to return with her to Baltimore. 
Underground mails are forwarded by this channel. 
Virginia funds and Confederate bonds, amounting to 
eighteen thousand dollars, in one instance authenticated 
by Branch, were furnished a Secession merchant of Bal- 
timore, who returned for them an equal amount in gold. 

In shame be it said, the most active and expert 
in thus aiding the Rebels are from the New England 
States. It is, however, cheering to reflect that names of 
men and vessels have been furnished the United States 
government, and that a speedy punishment must follow. 
We doubt not that these ingenious and energetic traders 
have earned a double profit from both governments, by 
celling information of value to each successively. 



PRISON-INCIDENTS. 93 

Exciting rumors of battles, with tliunder-and-light- 
ning details of immense Federal loss and invariable 
panic, often get tbrongh the bars,-'-how, and from 
whence, none can tell : yet we greedily devour the ob- 
noxious morsel, appear in whatever shape it may. 
Sometimes the report reaches the importance of an 
extra, printed on a sheet eight inches long and three 
inches wide, issued by a Eichmond paper, of one of 
which the following is a verbatim copy : — 

DAILY ENQUIRER. 



Further News from the North ! 

mGHI.Y IMPORTAI^'T!! 

Petersburg, Dec. 19, 1861. 

A telegram from Norfolk reports that Faulkner 
has arrived under a flag of truce. 

There has been a universal suspension of 
specie-payment at the North. 

Mr. Adams, United States Minister to London, 
immediately demanded his passports upon the 
issue of the Queen's pvoclamtaion. 

The effect of the news was very great at New 
York. There was a fall of three per cent, on 
United States stocks, and a depreciation of five 
and six per cent, on all stocks. 

Federal securities fell two per cent. 

Missouri fell three per cent. Exchange went 
up to 110 @111. 

Breadstuffs favorably affected ; all descrip- 
tions firmer. Cotton withdrawn from the mar- 
ket. Sales of middling at forty-two cents 
Saltpetre advanced fifteen cents. 

The Northern press universal for war. They 
say that the British lion must be humbled by the 
United States. 

They say that the war is inevitable. 



94 PEISON-LIFE 'AT EICHMOND. 

The effect of such a thunderbolt upon us can scarcely 
be imagined. Pvemoved from all sources of informa- 
tion except through Confederate channels, and thirst- 
ing for any facts, however trifling, that related to our 
government and its policy, we read the extra with con- 
flicting opinions of doubt and belief. How threadbare 
we wore every argument, pro and con, on the subject! 
How that little knot of officers at the window actually 
writhed in earnest discussion ! Any expression of 
opinion — no matter from whom — caused eager eyes to 
gaze upon the speaker, and his words to be absorbed 
by attentive ears. Well do we remember how, when 
discussion had exhausted itself, a wag turned towards 
that lexicon of all knowledge, '^ Hart on Exchange," 
and solemnly sought from its pages a solution of our 
doubts. The oracle spoke : — 

''Gentlemen, if this extra be true, our government 
will Avant her soldiers ; exchange will take place : 
hence, we pronounce it truth." 

The volume closed its thumbed page and went to its 
supper of bread and molasses. 

We received with emotions of ecstasy the confirma- 
tion of the news of the Federal victory at Somerset, 
Kentucky, on the 20th of January. Our feelings of 
pleasure were heightened by the evident depressing 
effect of the intelligence upon ''Secessia" generally, 
and upon our jailers in particular. 

The daily press of Kichmond informed us that the 
defeat was much more disastrous to the Confederates 
than Northern accounts had detailed, admitting a loss 
of five hundred killed and wounded, many prisoners, 
with the entire munitions of war, camp-equipage, and 
artillery of Genex^al Crittenden's command. 



PRISON-INCIDENTS. 95 

We were assured, from scrutinizing the papers, and 
from observation generally of characters and persons 
connected Avith and visiting the prison, that a serious 
defeat would cripple the sinews of the Eebellion, and 
lead to a dissolution of the vaunted unanimity of Se- 
cession sentiment represented to exist throughout the 
South. Their defeat at Drainsville lessened the ardor 
of newspaper sensation-articles, while that at Somerset, 
Kentucky, produced columns of contradictory edito- 
rials, of vapid boasting, and of imbecile threats of 
future revenge. 

Amid the mass of invectives against the ^'Yankees" 
and against their own general who lost the battle of 
Somerset, the following will show the wavering pulse 
of Richmond, with its unanimity on the great Re- 
bellion : — 

(From the " RiclimoncI Enquirer," January 24, 1862.) 

^' We learn that on yesterday, in consequence of the 
news of the battle in Kentucky, the applications for 
passports to ' go North' were much more numerous 
than usual. Five applied where one did before. Let 
such people go. We can well afford to dispense with 
the luxury of their presence." ^ 

We determined to enjoy Christmas, as far as possible, 
according to our '^ auld lang syne" remembrances, and 
on Christmas-eve active preparations were made for 
the celebration of the day. Sundry sly nudges and 
knowing twinkles of the eye bade the writer glance 
towards the nearest mess-table. On it lay a turkey, 
bunches of celery, cranberries, four pies, and half a 
dozen contraband bottles. An unusual bustle among 



96 PRISOK-LIFE 5LT RICHMOND. 

tlie stewards gave token of a mighty feast on the mor- 
row : the old darkey who runs the errands of the 
officers was big with importance; and, as he passed 
in and out every few moments, it was evident that 
'* Yankee" gold was gladdening the hearts of Secessia. 

Gliding on with unusual merriment, the evening 
closed, according to our '' Hoosier," with "hearty good 
songs and jolly good stories from merry good fellows." 
The morning opened with sixty voices greeting, '^A 
happy Christmas !" and bright faces and glad voices 
seemed to illumine the old walls, for they looked less 
chilling, and gave back our shouts with a clearer tone 
than ever before. 

As the hours rolled on, turkeys were prepared for 
the adjacent bakery, cranberries put on to stew, and 
busy stewards were seen flying about, bustling over 
their manifold household duties. 

The morning sped on with narrative and reminis- 
cences. This one and that one, each and all, had per- 
sonal sketches of an old Christmas spent at home, — rich 
scenes of frolic and rollicking incidents, told with im- 
petuous gayety, or the quiet enjoyment of a home 
Christmas at the family board, surrounded by a che- 
risheji and oft- remembered group of loved ones. Many 
officers invited to their Christmas-dinner a non-com- 
missioned officer of their company; and as we sat 
around the mess-table, covered with tin crockery and 
steaming with our costly meal, we presented a perfect 
picture of democratic luxury. 

What cared we for prison-walls ? — had we not tur- 
key for dinner ? "What cared Ave for blockades ? — had 
we not home-luxuries ? What if gold was at fifty per 



PRIS0N-INCIDEKT3. 97 

cent, premium ? — did not ours pass at prison-bars, and 
yield us six bottles of *' contraband"? 

After the clotli (which consisted of four '' Piichmond 
Enquirers") was removed, we pledged our country and 
our cause, our friends and loved ones, in bumpers of 
feeling, yet in moderation; for Virginia whiskey, to 
one having a palate, is medicin^e and cure for all excess. 
Arising from the table, the hours, as usual, were passed 
in conversation, reading, &c. 

But it soon became apparent that Christmas was 
beino^ celebrated outside, as well as within, the walls. 
The report spread throughout the room that our guards 
were in an intoxicated state, and that few were able to 
discriminate properly between friend and foe. Such a 
condition of things caused much amusement, and we 
crowded to the window to get a sight of the muddled 
sentinels, and laughed until weary at the ludicrous 
idea of being guarded by the drunken soldiers of 
Secessia. 

In a few moments a brother-ofhcer whispered to the 
writer, ^'Taylor's out;" a moment elapsed, and again, 
*' Wallace is out ;" a short interval, and again, ^' Mcpher- 
son's out;" until he actually believed that the whole 
building would be deserted; when, not relishing the 
idea of being the sole occupant of the immense prison, 
he drew on his heavy coat, and, passing to the outer 
door, motioned to the sentinel, with all of a Confederate 
officer's hauteur, to lift his musket, — which was done, 
and once more the writer felt his lungs expand with 
free air. 

Thoroughly at a loss where to direct his steps, and 
knowing it to be impossible to escape during mid-win- 
ter, he wandered up Main Street, looking around him, 



98 PEISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

and feeling like a countryman upon his J&rst visit to a 
great city. 

He walked tlirougk tlie streets adjacent to the ware- 
house, and saw crowds of people, clouds of darkeys, 
drunken soldiers sans number, (by-the-by, whiskey 
and the blockade will crush the Kebellion,) a rainbow- 
group of Confederate officers, a fat woman, and a silver 
half-dollar with a crowd around it ; but, fearing that 
his unceremonious walk, if known, might compromise 
the future privileges of his brother-officers, he bent 
his steps towards the prison, where with a magisterial 
motion of the hand he caused the musket to give way, 
and passed into the familiar halls, absent one hour. 

One by one the excursionists returned ; but it was 
not until eleven o'clock at night that all were again 
under the protection of the drunken guards. 

During the evening, a Federal officer, who is noted 
for quaint drollery and waggish humor, approached the 
sentinel at the door and proposed to stand guard, stating 
that he desired the soldier to purchase for him a can- 
teen of liquor. To our astonishment, the proposal was 
accepted ; and amid the chapter of startling Christmas- 
events must be recorded the fact that the Federal pri- 
soners of war in Richmond were guarded on Christmas, 
with the consent of a Confederate sentinel, by a United 
States officer, a prisoner of war. In a short time the 
guard returned, and was liberally endowed with the 
'' contraband" that he had so patriotically earned. 

Many will think it singular, on perusing these de- 
tails of the loose system of guard-mounting, that we 
did not escape, and, by travelling through the country, 
reach the Federal lines. They will, however, bear in 
mind that it was mid-winter ; that Kichmond was one 



PEISON-INCIDENTS. 99 

hundred miles from any United States forces ; that the 
route taken would necessarily have been through an 
enemy's country ; that night was the only time when 
progress could be made, which must have been through 
the woods, and not on frequented roads; that the 
weather was so severe that sleep in the open air would 
have been impossible ; and that, owing to the country 
being filled with fugitive slaves, constant patrols crowded 
ever}^ avenue of escape. 

During the summer, attempts were made to escape. 
A few succeeded, but many were arrested in their pro- 
gress through the country. Had Christmas occurred on 
the Fourth of July, the old Tobacco Warehouse on that 
day would have been deserted. 

Christmas closed with much quiet enjoyment. "We 
had the usual pastimes, — ^ards, backgammon, checkers, 
&c., and the inseparable concomitant of Christmas- 
sports, — egg-nog. And such egg-nog ! — made without 
milk. Pleader, did you ever imbibe the poor man's 
nog? It will become the drink of " Secessia" in a few 
years, if pork continue as scarce, salt as high, and 
milch-cow beef be consumed as rapidly as at present. 

Richmond-prison egg-nog is made as follows, viz. : 
half a pint of water, four eggs, half a pint of whiskey 
or brandy, nutmeg and sugar according to taste. Take a 
half-gallon measure ; put in the water and eggs, with egg 
beaten ; bring the mixture to a lightness sufficient to 
fill the measure. When done, pour in brandy and season 
at will, and you have a delicious egg-nog, without its 
usual deleterious qualities. 

As a matter of record, we insert the following bill of 
a Christmas-dinner for a mess of six in the Richmond 
Tobacco Warehouse : Turkey, $3.00 ; cooking turkey, 



100 PRISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

50 cents ; 2 quarts of cranberries, 50 cents ; 1 peck of 
potatoes, 50 cents ; 1 pound of butter, 60 cents; 2 quarts 
of oysters, 60 cents ; 2 pounds of sugar, 40 cents ; 1 quart 
of onions, 25 cents; 2 quarts of milk, 25 cents ; 4 pies, 
40 cents; 2 bottles common brandy, $3.00; 1 dozen eggs, 
37i cents. Total, $10.37J. 

New-Year's day was passed v/itbout incident, ex- 
cept the usual drunkenness of guards and the conse- 
quent outside excursion of one of our number, who, 
unfortunately, was met in the street by a Confederate 
officer connected with the prisons. On the next day 
he was ironed. Yet when the officer of the day left the 
room they were removed ; and so loose is the system 
pursued, that the officer in charge on the ensuing day 
was ignorant of the entire matter. The Federal prisoner 
is free from irons, and will, probably, when released, 
ca/ry them North as a relic of his imprisonment. 

The day succeeding New- Year, the officer of the 
day — familiarly known as Yankee-Killer, alias Bowie- 
Knife, alias Emack — came into the officers' room and 
proceeded to examine every iron bar in the windows. 
After shaking each with a determined and vigorous 
grasp, he was passing out, when information was given 
him that the window in the north, behind a huge pile 
of boards and machinery, was minus a bar. This was 
done to shield our drunken friends the sentinels. He 
clambered with difficulty upon the dirty lumber, and, 
after many bruises and to the detriment of his unmen- 
tionables, succeeded in finding the window, with shutters 
closed, but a bar removed, leaving a space large enough 
to pass a Kentucky giant. We will not soon forget his 
smile of rewarded energy as he passed from the building 
and commanded loudly that the window should be im- 



PEISON-INCIDENTS. 101 

mediately boarded from tlie outside. The liar had been 
removed during the early period of prison-life, and 
had remained three months without discovery. No 
doubt, as each nail was driven into that shutter, our 
jailers imagined they had riveted another shackle on 
the mischievous Yankees; but it had never been used, 
and never w^ould be as long as whisky is a native product 
of Virginia and is accessible to their stalwart soldiers. 

HOSTAGES. 

On Sunday, November 10, 18G1, General John H. 
Winder, commanding the Department of Eichmond, 
accompanied by his staff, was observed to alight at the 
prison-office. It being an unusual occurrence for his 
visits to be attended with such ceremony, much sur- 
mise arose as to its cause and consequences; but we 
readily believed that it portended evil, as his visits 
invariably curtailed our restricted prison-privileges. 
A few moments elapsed, and he entered the building, 
attended by the staff, in full-dress uniform. Directing 
one of them to clear the room of all persons excepting 
the Federal officers, he took a position in the centre of 
the floor and announced that he had a most unpleasant 
duty to perform. He then read the following order 
from the Confederate War Department : — 

" C. S. War Departbient, 

" PtiCHMOND, November 8, 1861. 

" Sir : — You are hereby instructed to choose by lot, 
from among the prisoners of war of the highest rank, 
one who is to be confined in a cell appropriated to con- 
victed felons, and w^ho is to be treated in all respects 
as if such convict, and to be held for execution in the 



102 PEISON-LIFE ..T EI3HM0ND. 

same manner as may be adopted by the enemy for the 
execution of the prisoner of war Smith, recently con- 
demned to death in Philadelphia. You will also select 
thirteen other prisoners of war, the highest in rank 
of those captured by our forces, to be confined in the 
cells reserved for prisoners accused of infamous crimes, 
and will treat them as such so long as the enemy shall 
continue so to treat the like number of prisoners of 
war captured by them at sea and now for trial in New 
York as pirates. As these measures are intended to 
repress the infamous attempt now made by the enemy 
to commit judicial murder on prisoners of war, you 
will execute them strictly, as the mode best calculated 
to prevent the commission of so heinous a crime. 
" Your obedient servant, 

" J. P. Benjamin, 

" Acting Sec. of War. 

"To Brig.-Gen. John H. Winder, Richmond, Va." 

Announcing that it was necessary to draw by lot five 
of the Federal colonels and prisoners of war to be held 
as hostaQ;es for Smith, General Winder caused the names 
of the officers to be written on separate slips of paper, 
which were placed in a tin case, from which Hon. Mr. 
Ely was requested to draw one of the names. It proved 
to be that of Colonel Michael Corcoran, of the 69th 
Eegiment New York State Militia. 

General Winder then stated that, as only ten Federal 
field officers were held as prisoners of war, the cap- 
tains would be chosen by lot, to complete the required 
quota of hostages. Captains Pvockwood, Picketts, and 
McQuaid were chosen. 

With imperfect information, and indistinct hearing 



PRISON-INCIDENTS. 103 

of the order as read, we looked on in silence during 
the ceremony. But, as the names of Colonels Lee and 
Cogswell were called, under whose command we had 
stood upon the battle-field, and for whom respect, 
admiration, and esteem were blended in our hearts, sad- 
ness, sorrow, and sympathy were displayed in the fea- 
tures of every member of that little crowd. Yet when 
we saw the cheerful countenance of Colonel Lee and the 
quiet equanimity of Colonel Cogswell undisturbed, the 
shadow of portending evil seemed to disappear. 

When General Winder and his aids left the room, 
we gathered in groups, eagerly discussing the princi- 
ples of the policy, its bearing, causes, and effects ; and, 
ere the day closed, we looked upon the subject with 
increasing cheerfulness and confidence, fully believing 
that our government would not allow those veteran 
officers to be long confined in a felon's cell, or to suffer a 
felon's doom. 

On the 12th of January General Winder again visited 
us, and held another drawing, to choose two officers in 
lieu of Captains Ricketts and McQuaid, who were 
wounded at Manassas, and who at the time of drawing 
were confined by their wounds to the hospital. Captains 
Bowman and Keffer were chosen, — making the list of 
hostages complete as follows, viz. : — 

Col. Michael Corcoran, 69tli Regiment N. Y. State Militia. 

" M. Cogswell, 42d Regiment N. Y. State Volunteers. 

" W. Raymond Lee, 20thRegiment Massachusetts Volunteers. 

'• W. E. Woodruff, 2d Regiment Kentucky Volunteers. 

*' A. M. Wood, 14th Regiment New York State Militia. 

" Orlando B. Wilcox, 1st Regiment Michigan Volunteers. 

Lieut. -Col. G. W. Neff, 2d Regiment Kentucky 

" Saml. Bowman, 8th Regiment Pennsylvania " 

Major Jas. D. Porter, 38th Regiment New York " 



104 PRISON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

Major T. J. Revere, 20t]i Ecgiment Massachusetts Volunteers 

" Israel Vogdes, United States Artillery. 

Capt. Henry Bowman, 15th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. 
*' Geo. W. Rockwood, " " " " 

<< Francis J. Keffer, Colonel Baker's California Regiment. 

The hostages, one and all. bore themselves with 
manly pride and hardy patriotism, willing to suffer 
whenever and wherever the interests of their govern- 
ment required the sacrifice. 

On the 14th of November we were called upon to 
bid them farewell. As they passed from the room, we 
grasped each hand in silence; for, though the heart was 
steeled and the purpose steady, we could not, without 
emotions of heartfelt sympathy, see gray hairs, honored 
at home, and young spirits flashing but a month ago in 
the eager strife of war, go to a prison-cell. 

They were confined in Richmond jail; and weeks 
elapsed before we were enabled to learn their condition 
and the circumstances of their imprisonment, — the jailer 
having been ordered by General Winder to allow '' none 
— not even myself — to visit them, except through writ- 
ten authority from the War Department." 

When Mr. Faulkner returned from the North, in 
December, he visited them, and, by earnest representa- 
tions to the authorities, obtained a relaxation of these 
orders to the extent of permitting the officer com- 
manding the prison to visit them weekly. For nearly 
two months they were not allowed to communicate in 
person with their subordinate officers. Finally, owing 
to authentic information from the North, affirming the 
comparative comfort of the privateers, permission was 
granted Adjutant Pearson, of the 20th Massachusetts 
Kegiment, Mr. Ely, and Lieutenant C. M. Hooper, of 



PKISON-INCIDENTS. 105 

the California Regiment, to visit them from time to 
time. 

The cell in which, seven in number, they are con- 
fined, is seventeen feet long by eleven feet wide. 
It has two windows, each twenty-four inches square, 
protected by transverse iron bars, opening upon a 
high wall enclosing the prison's narrow yard, affording 
them only six hours of daylight in which to read and 
write; and to do either at any hour of the day, it is 
necessary for them to cluster closely around the win- 
dows. Previous to leaving the warehouse, they pur- 
chased camp-cots of the smallest size, which when 
spread out at night entirely occupy the cell in the 
prison, leaving no space to move around. In the 
morning they are allowed to remove the cots to the 
corridor, and the rough pine benches which they occupy 
during the day, and which are removed at night, 
clutter up the room to such an extent that the usual 
prison-privilege of pacing the floor is denied them. 
They are allowed twenty minutes each in the morning 
and afternoon to exercise in the prison-yard, four feet 
wide, extending around the building, which is of square 
form and massive structure. Tliey are furnished tho 
usual jail-rations, consisting of bacon and corn bread, 
— unfit to be eaten, — and are not permitted to supply 
their table with food at their own expense. Yet, find- 
ing their jailer not insensible to bribes, they have pur- 
chased from him the privilege of buying food, which he 
has cooked, and serves to them at a stipulated price per 
day. This jailer is a coarse, ruffianly, drunken sot, who 
reads their private letters before delivery, and proclaims 
their domestic affairs throughout the sinks and brothels 
of Kichmond. On one occasion, delivering a letter to 



106 PRISON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

one of them, he remarked, " Colonel, your wife writes in 
fine spirits : keep yours up." 

Below the room occupied by the hostages are two 
cells, constantly filled by drunken negroes, white felons, 
and criminal women of every color and caste, min- 
gling together in filth, stench, and vermin. In one cell 
— the same in size as that of the hostages — four negro 
women and fourteen children are confined. Their hus- 
bands and parents being within the Federal lines, they 
were removed to Eichmond for safe-keeping. 

The stench from these cells rises to that of the 
hostages, making the atmosphere nauseating and stifling 
at all hours of the day and night. The jail-yard 
is used for whipping the negroes of Eichmond, and 
the spot selected is usually under the windows of this 
cell, — where they hear the agonized yells of the poor 
negroes almost daily. The building is filled with body- 
vermin; and at night it is sometimes impossible to sleep, 
owing to the rats scampering incessantly over their 
beds. Other privations — too disgusting for these pages 
— are endured by them, making the heart sick at the 
contemplation of their brutal treatment. 

Strong representations, we understood, were made 
by Mr. Faulkner for an amelioration of their con- 
dition, which produced the reply, " that no better 
quarters could be furnished, as the authorities had no 
better." 

As information was received by us of the sufferings 
and privations of the hostages, it elicited from all the 
deepest sympathy, and produced among many an anti- 
pathy amounting to personal bitterness towards our 
jailers. 

We saw guarding us men who looked on refinement 



PRISON- INCIDENTS. 107 

of manners and the polished amenities of civilized life 
as the ne plus ultra of existence, — whose barred 
banners were flaunted in the breeze to gain disenthral- 
ment from " the low, vulgar, and disgusting habitudes 
of the Yankees," and yet whose lives, aims, and purposes 
were but as '' one vast and living lie." The proof existed 
in Richmond prison. And a few years hence, if success 
attend their efforts, the crushed liberties of the poor 
Southern white will attest the polished amenities and 
courtly ''habitudes" of a centralized and monarchical 
government. 

It is cheering to know that sympathy for the host- 
ages did not expend itself in vapid and useless re- 
pinings. Seven warm hearts nobly responded to the 
promptings of sympathy. An earnest and affecting 
petition to the Confederate War Department was 
drawn up, soliciting the substitution of the names sub- 
scribed in lieu of those already confined as hostages. It 
represented the increasing ill health of those officers, 
alluded to their age and to their superiority in rank 
to privateers, contrasted their condition and treatment 
with that of the latter, and concluded with a warm 
appeal, based upon humanity, for the privilege of being 
held as substitutes for the hostages. The names of the 
young officers who so freely proffered themselves as 
substitutes are as follow : — 



Captain John Markoe, Colonel Baker's California Regiment. 

Adjutant Chas. .J. Pearson, 20th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. 

Lieut. Wm. E. Merrill, United States Engineers. 

" Geo. B. Perry, 20th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. 

" J. Harris Hooper, 15tli " " " 

*' J. E. Greene, " " " " 

*' Chas M. Hooper, Colonel Baker's California Regiment. 



108 PRISON-LIFE AT EICIIMONP. 

Ill a few (lays a verbal and monosyllabic reply came, 
—''No." 

On the 4tli of January we were astounded by tlie 
pleasing intelligence that the hostages would be re- 
stored to the warehouse; and there was not a heart 
within the walls that did not respond to the shouts of 
congratulation that resounded throughout the ware- 
house. 

On the morning of the 5th we were on the rest- 
less qui vive of expectation; but this day was destined 
to be one of incidents. At eleven o'clock we were 
startled by an alarm of fire upon the officers' floor, 
and a small portion of the ceiling in the northeastern 
corner of the room was discovered to be in flames, 
having caught from a stove in the upper floor. One 
of the Federal officers immediately rushed up-stairs, 
where, to his astonishment, he found the privates 
gathered around the flames, some looking on uncon- 
cernedly, others with faces in which every feature 
expressed delight, whilst many were running around 
the room acting firemen, bellowing through their 
hands closed for speaking-trumpets, ''Turn on the 
water, Columbia Hose!" "Take that plug on the 
corner!" "Haul up that section of hose!" &c. &c., 
^■et not making the slightest effi)rts to arrest the 
flames; and it was not until after repeated orders 
that the officers succeeded in having the fire extin- 
guished. The poor fellows wanted a little fun mixed 
with their monotonous misery. In a few moments after 
the alarm, crowds commenced gathering around the 
building, hose-carriages and engines, in hot haste, ar- 
rived, with sweating negroes, gasping white men, and 
screeching boys tugging at the ropes. The alarm had 



PRISON-INCIDENTS. 109 

spread broadcast over tlie town that "the Yankees 
had set fire to their prison and were trying to 
escape/' and Eichmond had yielded up her hosts to 
prevent so dire a calamity. The crowd increased 
until the street was packed, every one glaring at the 
warehouse as if he thought it contained all the evil of 
Satan's abode. 

The commandant at the post, with the Fire Com- 
missioner of Eichmond, inspected the building, ex- 
amined the progress of the flames, — three inches in 
diameter, — visited the upper floor, minutely and magis- 
terially superintended the placing of an extra piece of 
sheet iron under the stove, and left the warehouse to 
its occupants. The crowd, seeing them leave the build- 
ing, commenced to disperse. 

At this moment we were started by three loud 
cheers, given with a will by the privates in an adjacent 
warehouse. We rushed to the windows, and saw the 
hostages approaching the prison. In a few moments 
they entered. 

Can we ever forget the scene that ensued ? It can- 
not be described. Its hearty gladness would have re- 
paid, almost, for a lifetime of suffering. How genuine 
that warm grasp of the hand, that cry of welcome and 
delight ! The pale features of the hostages seemed to 
light up with sensations of pride and gratitude at the 
greeting of afiection and sympathy; and, as the little 
band clustered around them when the first flush of 
welcome was over, and listened to their narration of 
daily suff'erings and privations, the scene presented a 
picture honorable to the manhood and creditable to the 
heart of every officer present. 

Ere the day closed, they had become domesticated, 



110 PRISON-LIFE* AT RICHMOND. 

sought out tlieir old sleeping-quarters, and arranged 
their prison- wardrobe in and around the tobacco- 
presses. 

As yet, they were not assured of their permanent 
release as hostages, having been informed by the 
authorities that their removal from jail was merely 
temporary, and arose from the necessity of cleansing 
and fumigating the prison-cells. Subsequent informa- 
tion through the Richmond papers of the release of 
the privateers in the North confirmed us in the belief 
that we should have them with us until sent, rejoicing, 
'' homeward bound." 



SUNDAY IN PEISON. 



Ill 



CHAPTEE VII. 






SUNDAY IN PEISON. 



Deceviher 8, 1861. — A bright and beautiful day, — 
olue skies, and changing clouds throwing their chasing 
shadows throue^h the iron bars. Above and around us 
breathes the holy calm of the Sabbath. Its softened 
beauty mellows each heart within our prison-home; 
for it is an hour devoted to the past, whose sweet 
influences are all our own. 

Ye who, in the full flush of life, wander hither and 
thither through the paths of freedom, heart upon the 
lip, with slightest thought unfolded to thy brother, — 
for whom the great world is open to sense and soul, 
its keen enjoyments, its high ennobling pursuits, filling 
thy life with wealth of love, honor, and ambition, 
— we envy you not on this holy day ; for the rough 
walls around us, drear and chilling to the eye, bring 
to the mind many welcome hours of deep meditation. 

We stand at the open w^indow and glance towards 
the south. Almost at our feet flow onward to the sea 
the calm waters of the James Eiver. Imagination 
pictures its glad embrace with the dancing billows of 
the free and open sea. Behold yon charred and limb- 
less log floating sluggishly down the stream : no circ- 
ling eddies nor hidden rock disturb its onward course; 
it is borne by the current on, ever on ; and we turn 



112 PEISON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

sadly away, for yonder waters bear 
towards our home and friends. 

Looking westward and to the north, a plain of some 
miles in extent may be seen, edged by dense woods, 
beyond which the shadowy outlines of continuous hills 
present daily a mirage of gloom. 

Rich fields, cosy old farm-houses, dot the open plain ; 
whilst on the winding country road a fat negro may 
be seen lazily lounging in the sun, astride a diminutive 
mule, leisurely returning from his master's town- 
errand. 

Over that plain, through those dense woods, across 
those shadowy hills, lie all that we hold dear on earth, 
— our country and our homes. 

"We cross the room and look out upon the open 
street. It is now ten o'clock. The solemn clang of 
church-bells comes through the bars, and family groups 
are seen, prayer-books under arm, — little chubby- 
cheeked children, looking like toys, led leaping by the 
hands, — gaudy servant-girls, with ruddy glow of health 
and braAvny hands cased in kid, — the old darkey, with 
silvered head and bending form, trudging after his 
mistress, — the rainbow-robed mulatto belle, with 
springy step and wagging skirts. All stop to look at 
the Yankees. 

On the Sabbath we receive our outside visitors. 

The windows of the warehouse are nearly level with 
the street : so we welcome our visitors on an equal 
footing, barring the grating between. A sentry paces 
to and fro before the window, whose duty it is to keep 
them at a respectful distance — ten feet — from the bars. 
Come, and we will introduce you to them, one and all. 



SUNDAY IN PKISON. 113 

We know not their names or residences; but the ac- 
quaintance has been long, and socially we are on a 
pretty good footing with them. 

That slender young man in gray coat, blue panta- 
loons, gold braid, and tight boots, with upper lip suggest- 
ive of moustaches, is one of the jailers of the Yankees. 
With unbending form, and hands clasped behind him, 
he is holding a subdued conversation with an elderly 
gentleman ; and, as they stand upon the pavement, we 
can easily imagine that the old gentleman has mod- 
estly inquired concerning the mode of treatment used 
towards the Yankees, — whether they are ever unruly, 
and if it is necessary to shoot a few of them to keep 
them in order, or if the death of a few " Yankees," of 
which he has heard, merely arose from the frolicsome 
disposition of some good-natured sentinel who desired 
to relieve the monotony of his tedious duty by shooting 
at a mark. 

Our slender official very kindly informs him that 
they have but little trouble with the " Yankees," as the 
flash of a Southern blade is terror to the Northern 
heart; and that the occasional cases of shooting 
that had occurred were purely accidental, although, as 
an exam^ple, the inhumanity of the act was at least 
neutralized by its good results. 

The simple, good old gentleman goes home to his 
lamily and pays his war-tax willingly, satisfied that 
the warehouse he has just seen contains the whole 
" Yankee nation," chained and bound. 

Against tne lamp-post we have another friend lean- 
ing. Look at him well; for he is one of our aristocratic 
visitors. See with what negligent ease he leans against 
the post, legs overlapped, and thumbs in armholes of 



114 PEISON-LIFE AT KICHMOND. 

vest. His great gray eyes survey the '^ Yankees;" whilst 
a smile of pleasure mixed with contempt habitually 
possesses his lip, — pleasure at seeing the ''Yankees" in 
prison, contempt for the valor of all mankind except 
the Southern-born. 

This man is well clothed, looks like a gentleman, 
associates with our jailers, who are officers in the Con- 
federate regular army, no doubt possesses many honor- 
able and worthy traits of character, has the entree in 
the highest circles of social life, is respected, honored, 
and admired; but place him before these bars, bid 
him look at the '' Yankees," and in that smile which 
perhaps comes unbidden to his lips, you see revealed 
the secret malice and hatred of his heart. In the un- 
dying bitterness of his soul, he would crush us with 
his heel, prisoners unarmed, and helpless, as we are. 

A few paces to the left of our aristocratic friend, a 
negro stands, with tattered garments, bow-legs, and 
glaring eyes. He comes to see us every Sunday ; and 
we welcome his vacant stare and greasy ebony face, 
amidst the mass of bitterness around him. That negro 
has a history ; and it is a favorite pastime with us to 
unravel its mysteries. 

Across the street, the curb is lined with our friendly 
and sociable visitors, who, with eager eyes and upturned 
faces, spend the day with us. 

Who is this crossing the street, seemingly to get a 
nearer view ? He has ^ shambling gait, and a snuff- 
colored suit of clothes, a rainbow cap, the colors cen- 
tring in a point which overlaps his neck, around which 
a heavy woollen comforter is drawn ; about the waist 
he wears a raw-hide belt, with large cheese-knife pen- 
dent, his fingers fondly manipulating the hilt. As he 



SUNDAY IN IKISON. 115 

approaclies nearer, we discern expressionless features, a 
dull eye, and a slight hirsute growth. Motionless he 
stands and stares, and then a shrill, effeminate voice is 
heard exclaiming, ''Is them the Yanks?" The mystery 
is solved : he is a country-recruit, and, to use his own 
words, "jist jined the army, and kum to fight the 
Yanks." 

We have military officers upon the pavement, — heroes 
of Manassas, that look down contemptuously upon their 
brother-soldiers who shared not the honors of that 
field. 

As they stand in groups, we will sketch the varieties 
of uniform worn by yonder squad of four, who are all 
first lieutenants of the infantry. 

No. 1 is in citizen-dress, of gray kersey pants, coat, 
and vest, a black slouch hat, belt similar to those of 
United States privates, no sash, and home-manufactured 
sword, suggesting the idea of an altered scythe-blade. 

No. 2 is attired in complete uniform of blue, — the 
shade known as Mazarin blue; the pantaloons have 
on each leg a broad stripe of orange-colored cloth ; the 
cap is somewhat similar to the United States regu- 
lation, except that the crown is brought forward per- 
pendicularly to the visor-brim, and the entire surface 
covered with letters, wreaths, and eagles of brass 
braid. His coat is double-breasted, having /oi^r rows of 
buttons, and presenting a formidable breastplate of 
metal. The cuffs and collar are of brown cloth ; the 
collar on each side is ornamented with two stripes, three 
inches long, of yellow cloth ; each sleeve is adorned 
with chevrons of brass braid, serpentine shape, and ex- 
tending from the cuff six inches above the elbow. He 
wears a red worsted sash, with enormous bow-knot in 



116 PEISON-LIFE AT KICHMOND. 

front, the ends hanging nearly to the knee, with win- 
dow-blind tassels pendent. A white leather belt and 
United States cavalry-sword complete the picture. 

No. 3 has an entire suit of snufF-colored cassinet, black 
stripe down the pants, double-breasted coat, brass but- 
tons, slouch hat, red flannel sash, black leather belt, 
and United States sergeant's sword. 

No. 4 has the uniform as per regulations C. S. Army; 
light-gray double-breasted frock-coat, light-blue pants, 
serpentine chevrons on each sleeve, two bars on each 
side of coat-collar. United States belt, sword, and sash. 

As they stand in the group, ludicrous ideas are sug- 
gested of a dress-parade : yet, grotesque as their appear- 
ance may be, we must not sneer ; for they might scent 
Yankee blood behind the bars, and then, good com- 
panions, we might be venom-struck. 

Pvichmond is one vast rendezvous for Confederate 
officers, who hang around the hotels, and, as we learn 
from the papers, make an immense display of red pants, 
artillery-caps, &c., to the admiration of the females of 
the hotels and the darkey waiters. 

''Many of these sons of Mars are arrant impostors, 
and the gaudier their military trim the more likely are 
they to be discovered as gamblers, quartermasters' 
clerks, tailors' snips, or members of the Legislature. 
Their impudence, of course, is sublime. They swagger 
in the hotel-parlors, stretch their boots on the sofas, 
and never take their meals at the ladies' ordinary with- 
out their coats being buttoned up to their throats, and 
a general stiffness in their backs as if they were on 
dress-parade. There are some curiosities about these 
military dandies. Sudden transformation of dress is 
the coup dc main of the dandy ; and it not unfrequently 



SUNDAY IN PRISON. 117 

happens that some of the distingue boarders at the hotels 
appear in civilian dress during their unmilitary occupa- 
tion of the day, and at nightfall attire themselves iu 
the very tip of soldierly apparel, not forgetting buck- 
skin gauntlets, to do the military in the hotel-parlors, 
or to enact the ' front of Mars' in the vestibule of the 
bar-room. Orderlies and sergeants have more than 
once been passed off in this city on susceptible young 
ladies as staff-officers, and impostors have sat at the 
best tables in Eichmond, in the grandeur of gold lace 
and ' Palmetto buttons.' " 

Our visitors are not confined to the male sex. Ladies 
often honor us by their presence. From many the 
eye flashes hatred and contempt. They pass on, without 
creating a ripple on the great ocean of our equanimity. 
But, ah, how quickly the heart bounds, and the face 
beams with delight, when a smile of pity and sympathy 
from fair friends (and they are many) comes through 
the rusty bars ! Only a few moments ago, a beautiful 
girl went past, hanging affectionately on husband's or 
lover's arm, and her low voice was heard exclaiming, 
" I wish, George, they were out ! — I do, indeed !" God 
bless her ! and may life-clouds never gather around that 
earnest and pure heart ! 

Turning from the window, we glance around the 
room. An unusual quiet prevails. Each mess-table has 
its busy writer. Letters for home ! — what a wealth of 
heart-feelings those pages contain, their influence per- 
meating thousands of firesides, and almost touching 
the stern heart of that unknown official who is the 
grim arbiter of our opened letters ! 

Often have we pictured that man upon his judgment- 
seat, a large backet beside him, and busy assistants 



118 PRISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

heaping letter upon letter on the table. See him now. 
With frigid features and inanimate eye, he glances over 
that letter: quickly, sharply, and with a ''pshaw!" he 
tosses it into the basket of rejected letters. It was 
written by a wounded man, whose feeble fingers ren- 
dered the lines illegible except to eyes of love, for 
which it was alone intended. 

Look again. He spreads before him a sheet of fools- 
cap, closely written and interlined. One glance, and 
into the basket it goes. That letter contained the out- 
pourings of a husband's love for his home and its dear 
ones. 

Again see him. With a smile upon the lip, his rigid 
features illumined with humor, calling upon a brother- 
censor, he exclaims, '^ Listen, Joe! — 'My own sweet 
darling, I'm almost crazy. Are you wounded? do you 
suffer ?' etc. — I say, Joe, isn't she a beauty with the 
pen ? Let's see who she is. Why, she is writing to 

Lieutenant , and her name is Mary , of 

City. Well, I guess he may have it.." And he tosses 
it aside. 

Again he reads ; again the basket receives a letter. 
Lines written by an old German to his son, a prisoner 
of war, for a power of attorney to draw his pay, to 
keep the old man from want. Alas ! it was written in 
German, a language not understood by the censor. 
Into the basket it goes; and the old father suffers on, — 
perhaps to the grave. 

Many around the room are reading the book of God, 
recallimj!; a mother's tender teachino; or a father's 
revered example in the bygone lapse of years. Others 
are pacing up and down in silent thought; whilst all 



SUNDAY IN PRISON. 119 

respect tlie day and its sacred, solemn duties. As the 
hours pass on, quiet conversation and warm intercom- 
munion of sympathies and future friendship occupy our 
little band until the evening meal. At seven o'clock 
we assemble for divine worship. 

The President calls the Association to order, and 
silently and reverently we listen to God's holy word 
from the lips of our estimable chaplain, Rev. John W. 
Mines, of Bath, Maine. 

The evening closes quietly; and as the officer of the 
day commands, ^'Lights out!" we retire to our straw 
beds, fully trusting in our God, that he will soon restore 
us to our beloved ones. 



120 PRISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 




CHAPTEE VIII. 

OUE JAILEES. 

The degree of privation to wliicli we are subjected 
depends, to a great extent, upon the character and 
temperament of the officers in charge, — the regulations 
of the fost being such as to allow much latitude of 
judgment and action to our jailers; in consequence of 
which, we have received every degree of treatment, 
from the rough usage of convicted felons, to the kind- 
ness due us as gentlemen and soldiers. 

The officers of the prison are usually State cadets, a 
few from West Point, whilst many have been tempo- 
rarily attached to the post as "officers of the guard" 
from the volunteer regiments encamped around Eich- 
mond. The latter have presented many burlesque in- 
stances of ignorance in military duty, discipline, and 
courtesy; whilst the former assume an importance of 
bearing perfectly irresistible, in its drollery of conceit, 
upon those for whom intended, — the " Hessians." 

The lieutenant acting officer of the day is on duty 
twenty-four hours, during which period he has under 
control our supplies of milk, newspapers, clean linen, 
potatoes, molasses, and gas-light, with many other pri- 
vileges, such as visiting men in hospital, receipt of 
letters, recepi'on of visitors, &c. ; and whilst one day 
we receive courteous treatment, the next will probably 
unfold, through a new officer of the day, the manifold 



OUn JAILERS. 121 

miseries of being a prisoner of v^^ar. Milk Is probably 
suspended. The newsboys, and Susan the negro washer- 
woman, wait in anxious companionship upon the curb 
for the permission of the officer of the day to approach 
ihe door; whilst the hall is crowded with needy officers 
impatient for their linen and milk. 

xln officer, prompted by a due regard for the neces- 
sities of his "mess," calls for the corporal of the guard. 
Waiting perhaps half an hour in the hall, the sleepy, 
indifferent soldier appears, and has placed in his hand 
a basket, a silver half-dollar, and a memorandum for a 
peck. of potatoes. An hour, elapses. At last the cor- 
poral appears, lounging leisurely along. He approaches 
the door and is hailed by the expectant and hungry 
officer, but without avail. The corporal enters the 
office, for the basket of potatoes must be examined by 
the officer of the day; and perhaps in two hours from 
the time the order was first given, the " mess" receives 
its peck of potatoes. Thus it is with every, thing we 
wish. Trifling causes of complaint, but often depriving 
lis of the only vegetable of our bread-and-meat dinner. 

We do not object to any prison-regulations necessary 
for our safe keeping and the protection of Secesh in- 
terests ; but whatever system they adopt is so influ- 
enced by the temperament of the temporary officer of 
the day, and the indolence and inertness as well as the 
disoblis-ino: nature of the subordinates, that we never 
know ''what the morrow will bring forth." 

In some instances, after the order annulling our 
darkey errand-boy's vocation, days have passed with- 
out our being able to procure \ki^ few articles necessary 
to make prison-fare palatable. 

These annoyances result entirely from the latitude 



122 PPJSON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

given to the officers of the day in the details of guard- 
ing the '' Yankee prisoners." 

ISTot alone in regard to our table are we subject to 
their whims, but we receive from them language better 
fitted for brothels and pot-houses than for a prison 
reserved for officers prisoners of war. 

On the 7th of January, an altercation regarding the 
supply of milk occurred between the officer of the day 
jocularly called '' Bowie-Knife," and a lieutenant 
prisoner of war, during which " Bowie-Knife" used 
epithets and invectives too disgusting for these pages, 
concluding with, ^'Shut up, or I'll run you through!" 

Up to the time when the order was first given to 
call the roll at seven o'clock, we had been accustomed 
to rise at eight o'clock. Hence many sound sleepers, 
not always hearing the summons in the morning, would 
continue to sleep, while our august jailer was waiting 
restlessly at the door. At such times it was a ''morn- 
ing song" for Lieutenant Booker, officer of the day, to 
use such language as, ''Corporal, pull those men out!" 
"Sentry, use your bayonet!" "Damn you, get up!" 

Usually two sentinels would be posted in the room, 
with orders to allow none to pass them, and, after we 
had answered roll-call, with nothing on but our under- 
clothes, and unable to reach our wardrobe, we would 
be forced to stand shivering until the roll was com- 
pleted and the officer and his guard had left the room, 
— sometimes not in company with each other, as the 
officer, flushed with the sense of his authority over the 
"Yankee," occasionally forgets his sentinels, who are 
left standing on their posts, keeping us huddled together, 
shaking and trembling in the cool air of the morning. 

At night our supply of gas depends entirely upon 



OUR JAILEES. 123 

the disposition of tlie officer of tlie day. Until nine, ten, 
and eleven o'clock, and in some instances all night, have 
we been allowed to burn the gas. We can calculate 
with mathematical accuracy how long it will burn on 
certain nights, knowing what stripling of an officer 
then assumes command over the despised and vulgar 
'' Yankees." 

Experience has taught us that those officers who 
most loudly abuse the " Yankees," and who upon all oc- 
casions proclaim the inevitable success of the Pvebellion, 
are least sincere in their profession of patriotism; and 
we receive from those who hail from South Carolina 
and Alabama, more courteous treatment and privileges 
than we do from the vaunted chivalry of Virginia. 

The former States, bold in their announcement of 
Secession principles and actions, are open enemies and 
honest if misled adversaries; the latter State stole 
from the Union thief-like, proffering a Judas kiss in 
her peace-delegation to Washington. Each State ap- 
pears to have robed its commissioned officers with the 
attributes of its distinctive nationality. The answers 
we receive to the inquiries, ''Is he an Alabamian?" 
^'What State does he come from?" give us an almost 
certain clue to the character of an officer unknown to 
us who is newly appointed over the prisons. 

The ''Eichmond Examiner" of February 11, 1862, 
narrates the experience of Captain W. D. Early in the 
military prison of Washington, stating that he had 
been treated with great severity and the most out- 
rageous insults, and adduces the following instances of 
brutality : — 

" On one occasion our [Confederate] prisoners were 
ordered to stand up Avhen their names were called, 



124 PRISON-LIFE AT PJCHMOND. 

and one of them, remarking;, 'We tliou2;ht we were 
prisoners of war/ was, without a word of reply, thrust 
into a cell." 

Captain, we sympathize with you ; for we are ordered 
to be bayoneted out of bed in Eichmond to attend 
roll-call, and not only to stand up, but to march with- 
out clothing in single file past our jailers. 

Another sad experience of Captain Farly: — "The 
practice had been adopted of insulting our prisoners 
of war by confining in one room with them deserters 
from the Confederate side." 

Again our sympathies rise for you, captain, — as we 
have among us disgraced Confederate soldiers, desert- 
ers, and miserable detective police-ofiicers and govern- 
ment spies, whose vocation among us is to become 
the hutt, not the inquisitor, of the '^ Yankee" officers. 
x\nd for your further consolation, captain, we inform 
you that on the 11th of February, 1862, Lieutenant 
Gr. W. Emack, Confederate officer of the day at the 
prison, ordered five men of the 42d New York Regi- 
ment to be confined in a cell for refusing to clean the 
quarters of the Confederate guard and to saw and carry 
wood for the said guard, &c. &c. 

It is with pleasure that we turn from these records 
of imbruted yet self-styled "refined" gentlemen of the 
South, to render our testimony to the uniform courtesy, 
urbane kindness, and obliging disposition of those 
whose manly hearts instinctively felt and acted upon 
the natural relation between officers prisoners of war 
and officers in command over them. 

We shall not soon forget those little attentions, 
trifling in themselves, but inestimable to us behind the 
»iars. The noble heart impulsively reflects itself in noble 



OUR JAILERS. 125 

actions; and, whilst a mass of seething bitterness en- 
compassed us, they alone realized that we were not 
brutes, hound-like, to be hooted at and reviled and spit 
upon. 

With this courtesy was invariably combined the 
most strict attention to the warehouse-regulations; and 
by none were ''prison-orders" more rigidly enforced 
than by those of our jailers whom it is a pleasure to 
call gentlemen and soldiers. 

They were few indeed, compared wdth those who 
frolicked in the enjoyment of tightening our shackles ; 
but their treatment of the Federal officers in Eich- 
mond will warm many hearts towards them throughout 
our country. The gratitude of many a home-circle will 
blend their names, alien though they be, with kind and 
prayerful remembrances amid the desolation of homes 
and the devastating march of war. 

If we roughen the naturally irascible temperament 
of our Confederate jailers by the following short 
sketches, we assure them that our judgment of their 
character and treatment is based upon recognized 
principles of Southern chivalry as unfolded by the 
Eichmond press, — ''the polished amenities of civilized 
life." 

Towering far above the herd, electrically inspiring 
the wavering hearts of the people in their desperate 
conflict, and devoting the immense resources of his 
mind to the combination of the civil and military 
necessities of the Eebellion, we find our great jailer, 
Jefferson Davis, who may be seen occasionally on a 
fine afternoon, mounted on a neat and stylish bay mare, 
accompanied by one of his aids, riding past the "Yan- 
kee prisons." ■- 



126 PTIISON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

His appearance is by no means cliaracteristic of the 
man, creating disappointment in the mind of the ob- 
server. He looks care-worn and in ill health, with 
haggard features and evidently exhausted frame, as if 
the incessant toil of his intellect was gradually but 
surely bearing him to the grave. As he returned 
the military salute of the officer of the post, he turned 
his full face towards the prison ; and it seemed to one 
at least behind the bars that there was a tinge of sad- 
ness in those wasted features as he beheld one of the 
pitiful consequences of the desolations of an unholy 
ambition. He is the object of incessant and fulsome 
adulation, deified by the old ladies, worshipped by the 
young, who vie with each other in showering upon him 
their idolatry, always accompanied by unique presents, 
varying from a pair of gloves knit from the curls of 
a pet lap-dog, to barred banners from the trembling 
fingers of old women verging on a century, tendered 
always as an evidence of the independence of the South 
in home- manufactures. 

Politically we judge him to be unpopular, as the 
Richmond press — extravagant in all else — seldom 
allude either to his position or abilities. . 
• Brigadier- General John H. Winder, commanding the 
Department of Richmond, and having special charge 
of the ''Yankee" prisoners, is a man apparently sixty- 
five years of age, short and compact in frame and 
curt in act and speech. He commands fear, if no other 
feeling, from his subordinates, — who allude to him in 
their conversation as if the shadow of his presence 
surrounded them. When he visits the prison-ofiice, 
there may be perceived among the junior officers an 
apparent dread of portending evil. 



OUK JAILERS. 127 

A graduate of West Point, class of 1820, and a marti- 
net of fort}^ years' standing, whose military abruptness 
cuts like a scythe through the fears of the stripling 
cadets around us, he is indeed to them '' a feared and 
fearful thing." The prisoners seldom see him, except 
through the bars ; but we look upon his visits to the 
prison-office as an inevitable roughening of our con- 
finement. 

He is a man of oddities both in speech and character, 
but profane and coarse in his eccentricity. A Federal 
officer captured at Bull Kun, whose patriotism was 
doubted by his brother-prisoners, showered daily upon 
the general letters of appeal and argument relative to 
his imprisonment. "Weeks passed without response; 
and finally the officer, despairing of access to the gene- 
ral's sympathies, escaped from the prison. When the 
fact was reported to Winder, he burst forth, character- 
istically, with, '' Damn the fellow ! I hope he will escape, 
and bother me no more with his damned letters !" And, 
sure enough, the '^ fellow" did escape. 

Winder is not popular with the press, and is daily 
the subject of abuse in their editorial columns, where 
he is openly charged with collusion with the prison- 
undertaker and with speculation on the burial of the 
dead both of Confederate and Federal soldiers. 

Captain G-eorge C. Gibbs, commandant of the post, a 
native of Florida, apparently about forty years of age, of 
peculiarly slight and wiry frame, indomitable will, and 
fluctuating temperament, had command of our ware- 
house for nearly five months. At times he was court- 
eous and bland in manners and obliging and liberal in 
his actions, at others, coarse and abrupt, narrowing 
the limits of our few p/ivileges, and making us feel, 



128 PEISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

harslily and grufEy, tlie privations of our captivity. 
He was possessed of many fine qualities, but, owing 
to the variable character of his disposition, which has 
by many been attributed to ill health, he was unpopular 
with the prisoners ; and it was with mingled feelings 
of regret and pleasure that we bade him farewell, — 
pleasure at his departure, regret at the thought that 
Fortune might send us a far more rigid and un- 
charitable jailer. 

In December a number of money-letters for the Fede- 
ral privates, containing forty-three dollars, were stolen 
from the prison-office. Captain Gibbs and Lieutenant 
Hairston immediately replaced the amount from their 
private purses. The Federal officers, upon ascertain- 
ing the fact, contributed the sum lost, and returned it 
to Captain Gibbs. He gracefully accepted it, but at 
once donated the amount, through Surgeon Pvevere, of 
Massachusetts, to the needy prisoners of war. He left 
us in the latter part of January, being ordered to 
Galisbury, North Carolina, in command of Federal 
prisoners confined there, and was succeeded by Captain 
A. C. Godwin, commandant of the post. 

Tall, soldierly in his bearing, graceful and refined in 
his manners, and courteous in his intercourse with the 
prisoners, Captain Godwin merits the general encomium 
of being the most accomplished soldier ever placed in 
command of the prisons. Yet with his usual suavity 
of manners is blended an intense and bitter hatred 
of the North, which, govern it as he will, is apparent 
in his strict interpretation of the ^' prison-orders" 
and the daily curtailing of the few privileges allowed 
us. AVhen Lieutenant Emack, officer of the day, 
placed in a cell five men of the 42d New York Ee- 



OUR JAILEKS. 129 

giment for refusing to police the quarters of the Con- 
lederate guard at tlie prison, strong appeals and argu- 
ments were used by Colonel Lee to Captain Godwin, 
showing the injustice and unmilitary nature of the 
order ; but without effect. The commanding officer 
was immovable, and the men were forced to obey the 
order. 

Lieutenant Todd, commandant of the post, left Eich- 
mond previous to the arrival of the Federal prisoners 
captured at Ball'^ Bluff, but there remained behind 
him a reputation surpassing record of his cruelty and 
imbruted inhumanity. Drunk during nearly the en- 
tire period of his authority at the prison, and seething 
with malignity and bitterness, he made the life of the 
Federal officers one of daily indignity and hardship. 
Foul and scurrilous abuse was heaped upon them at his 
every visit : sentinels were charged to bayonet them 
at the slightest infringement of prison-rules; men 
were shot down at prison-windows by his orders; and, 
as if nature had centred the essence of evil in his foul 
heart, on one occasion he thrust his sword into the 
midst of a crowd of Federal privates in the ware- 
house, regardless as to whose life he endangered. 
Fortunately, it passed through a man's leg, and not 
his body. 

We turn with pleasure from the remembrance of 
such a character to Lieutenant J. J. W. Hairston, 
commanding post, whom we gratefully greet upon 
these pages as one kindly given us by Providence to 
soften the rigor of prison-life. In his mind the know- 
ledge of the nature of our position as prisoners of war 
seemed to be ever present ; and, whilst strictly obedient 
to the spirit of the prison-regulations, he was ever sen- 



130 PIIISON-LIFE AT KICHMOND. 

sible of tlie inestimable value to us of the many appa- 
rently trifling attentions wliicli, with a due regard to 
his position and its duties, he daily rendered us. 

To him alone were we indebted for the prompt 
receipt and delivery of our correspondence; and no 
application was ever made for permission to visit men 
in the hospitals and prisons, or for any other privileges 
consistent with prison-discipline, that was not freely 
and courteously granted, with a pleasant cordiality of 
manner that rendered the privilege doubly valuable. 

He is an accomplished soldier and refined gentle- 
man, but a sincere, earnest, and sacrificing, yet unob- 
trusive, believer in the justice of this Eebellion, — rare 
qualities indeed amidst the bombastic shallowness of 
patriotism, so called, around him. Whilst the Confede- 
rate officers of the post would introduce the never-fail- 
ing subject of " Southern wrongs" and descant proudly 
upon the inevitable result of Southern valor and 
prowess. Lieutenant Hairsten would shrink from ob- 
truding upon prisoners of war opinions so much at 
variance with those which they entertained. 

He left us in January, and is now upon outpost- 
duty on the Potomac; and those among us who re- 
member with gratitude his kindness and courtesy 
assure him of our sympathy when, in the ordinary re- 
sults of a campaign, he may meet with misfortune or 
danger. If our position as prisoners and captors 
should ever be reversed. Lieutenant Hairston will 
receive at our hands those manifold attentions which he 
so freely rendered us ; and as the future unfolds a ces- 
sation of the strife of war, it will be our pleasure and 
duty to meet him as an earnest friend and accomplished 
e;entleman. 



OUR JAILERS. 131 

Captain Jackson Warner, commissary, — a lusus natu- 
rcc. Apparently kind-liearted and obliging, lie periodi- 
cally indulges in the bitterest diatribes against ''Yankee" 
prisoners and the ''Yankee" nation, yet, to the keen 
observer, appears to possess a nature not quite so 
steeled against the North as his wordy arguments 
and boastful sensation-language would imply. His 
birth partakes of the character of his nature, — an 
enigma. 

His own version is as follows : — 

"He was born on a flat-boat going down the Ohio 
Eiver, when the craft was tied up to a landing : it 
being at night, and the boat getting under way before 
morning, he has never been able to tell where or in 
what State he first saw the light." However, he is a 
hybrid being, born on Northern waters and flourishing 
on Southern soil and packets. 

He is a stout, hearty-looking fellow, with the spirit 
of fun almost as well developed as his immense circular 
beard and crisp moustache. He pops in and out of 
the warehouse like a piston-rod from a cylinder, with 
alw^ays a word of banter, or, when a little bit boozy, 
of raillery and derision. " What did you come down 
here for?" is his text; "Never mind: you'll soon be 
in Abraham's bosom," his discourse ; " We licked you 
at Bull Run," his peroration. He has recently lost 
his voice. Somerset, Fort Henry, and Eoanoke have 
operated upon his vocal organs like an east wind; and 
for a time at least we are rid of his nightly visits of 
taunt and bluster. 

He has charge of the feeding-department of the 
prison, and we believe he does the best he can for us 
under the needy regime of " Secessia." In the course 



132 PEISON-LIFE 'AT E CHMOND. 

of his duties lie daily visits the commissary-sergeanii 
and abuses him for the waste of food about the prison, 
but invariably closes his remarks with, " Mind, I want 
you to give them enough." His appearance among 
the men in the upper stories is always the signal of 
boisterous confusion and greeting ; for he invariably 
spins them a yarn relative to their speedy release, or 
utters vague promises of improvement in their condi- 
tion or treatment. 

The Federal privates employed in the various de- 
partments of the prison and hospital give him a charac- 
ter for kindness of treatment, yet abruptness in speech 
and roughness of manner irrespective of the recipient's 
feelings. The constant theme of his conversation and 
thoughts is this great Eebellion; and the prisoners of 
war are his unwilling audience, day after day. We do 
not think that three officers in the warehouse agree in 
estimating the character of our commissary. 

" He is rough." ''Well, but he is good-hearted." '' He 
is bitter." " Pshaw ! that's only put on. Don't you know 
that hybrid Secesh must act and talk the strongest?" 
''He insulted me last night." "Don't mind that: he 
was a little boozy." Such are the remarks and replies 
of our good commissary's friends and foes in the 
Tobacco Warehouse of Fiichmond. Friend commissary, 
we hope to catch you one day, if you ever get within 
our reach ; and we assure you that if such a compound 
mongrel as yourself can be found in the North, we will 
set it watching your prison-doors. But we opine that 
to catch you is an impossibility whilst Confederate money 
is plenty and at par; and you say there is no possibility 
•of its ever getting scarce, since " Jcflerson Davis has 



OUR JAILERS. 133 

three men constantly employed doing nothing else but 
signing bonds." 

Lieutenant G. W. Emack — alias ^'Bowie-Knife," alias 
'' Yankee-Killer," acting officer of the day — is a tall, 
slim man, — very straight, very young, and very mili- 
tary. He possesses small, effeminate features, and re- 
markably thin lips, — the upper one adorned by an in- 
cipient moustache; and when ruffled by the inertness 
of the Yankees at roll-call, his lips become compressed, 
and concentric furrows gather on his brow, making 
him a terrible thing to look at, if not to shrink from. 
He is a military fop in attire and manner, exquisite in 
taste and macassar oil; and the dandy leer of conceit 
and satisfaction which he casts upon the ladies passing 
by, is the ne plus ultra of foppish buffoonery. But the 
delicate and soft traits of his character are left behind 
him when he enters the prison. Here he is the maxi- 
mum of bitterness and roughness, — from early roll- 
call, when his stern voice resounds throughout the 
building, '' Eoll-cail!" until nine o'clock at night, 
when " Put out those lights!" comes from him in gut- 
tural tones, irritating us to such an extent that he 
is often compelled to put them out himself. He is re- 
plete with every quality that can disgrace the character 
of a gentleman, and possesses none which command 
either respect or civility. He has been knighted 
''Bowie-Knife" from his prowess — as narrated by him- 
self — in the following escapade. Having been arrested 
during the early part of September, 1861, in Mary- 
land, under suspicion of drilling men for the Southern 
army, he was taken under guard to Tybee, in Prince 
Charlotte county. Whilst there he was furnished with 
a "bowie-knife," by a sympathizer in the hotel; and 



134 PEISON-LIF.rAT KICHMOND. 

as Mr. Walker, correspondent of the '^New York 
Times," who had joined the guard, was engaged in 
washing his person, Emack gave him a severe cut 
across the abdomen, made a dash past the sentinel 
at the door, who fired at him several times, and es- 
caped to the woods, and from thence across the Poto- 
mac to '' Secessia." He claims to have killed a brigadier- 
general and two other officers in this fight. He tells 
the story with much gusto, repeating it whenever he 
can obtain an audience. His alias ''Yankee-Killer" 
was acquired by his boastful speech as to what he 
would do when within arm's-length of the ''Yankees." 
Yet it has created much astonishment with us that so 
belligerent an individual should be contented with the 
peaceful occupation of guarding the " Yankees." He, 
however, evinces but little desire to run the risk of 
capture by our forces, being sensible of the estimation 
in which he is held by the prisoners of war in Eich- 
mond. He has on several occasions acted most brutally 
towards the men and insultingly towards the officers, 
and at every opportunity displays the bitterness and 
malice of his heart towards the prisoners of war. 

Dr. Higginbotham, surgeon. Tall and gentlemanly- 
looking, and courteous in his manners, the doctor has 
acquired with the men quite an enviable reputation. 
With the officers he has not succeeded so well, although 
their personal intercourse with him has been of an 
agreeable character ; but his reported discourtesy and 
neglect of the prisoners of war held as hostages, at 
the jail, have caused much ill feeling towards him, and 
led many to suspect that his suavity of manner is only 
a cloak for his antipathy to us. 

Owen B. Hill, assistant surgeon, seldom appears in the 



OUE JAILERS. 135 

ofHcers' quarters, and is, consequently, but little known. 
He is well tliouglit of by the men in the hospital. 

J. L. S. Kirby, adjutant of the post, thinks the 
prisoners are too well treated. 

Lieutenants Wm. K. Bradford, Mercer, 

Turner, acting officers of the day, three very young 
men, who dress well, and appear only anxious for their 
tour of duty as officers of the day to end, that they 
may delight the fashionable promenade of Pvichmond 
with their presence. 

Lieutenant E. A. Semple, acting officer of the day, 
another very young man, but clever and obliging, en- 
tertains us, occasionally, with scraps from his life-expe- 
rience, which delight the heart and instruct the mind. 
He is a true son of the South. 

Lieutenant K. M. Booker, acting officer of the day, 
merits no further mention than this of his name. 

The Dutch Sergeant of the Post, — who, at the date 
of the arrival of the Ball's Bluff prisoners, appeared to 
be the essence of authority at the prison. Commanding 
officer, officer of the day, and roll-sergeant, — all seemed 
blended in this (jQvmixw factotum. 

Was any thing wanted ? Ask the Dutch sergeant. 
Would any thing happen soon ? Ask the Dutch sergeant. 
Officers and men in the warehouse, and negro cooks in 
the yard, ignored the existence of all authority in the 
Confederacy, save what centred in our Dutch sergeant. 
He was a good fellow at times, and a very bad one at 
others. He would show his angular smile of half- 
stubborn good humor to-day, and curse us in his frag- 
mentary English to-morrow. He was an infallible dog, 
— thought himself omnipresent and omniscient. Well 
do we remember, when Captain Bense and Lieutenant 



136 PEISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

Merrill escaped, how our Diitcli sergeant ruslied. into 
the warehouse, exclaiming, Avith his Teutonic accent, 
'' Gentlemen, two of you have got out. Must call de 
roll. I saw 'em go but a minute ago." (They had been 
gone thirty-six hours.) Completing the roll-call, and 
discovering the names of the absentees, he darted out of 
the door, exclaiming, " I know where dey is ! I can catch 
dem." He aroused the town, and patrols were sent in 
all directions. But the Dutch sergeant was at fault for 
once, as they were rearrested at night, thirty miles 
from Eichmond, by scouts searching for runaway 
negroes. He left us on the 22d of November, 1861, 
for Tuscaloosa, in charge of Federal officers and men 
transferred thither as prisoners of war. By a letter 
thence we have been informed of his popularity, owing 
to his obliging nature. He fills the important post of 
commissary at Tuscaloosa, and is still noted for his 
infallibility and usefulness. 

At twelve o'clock, each day, the ceremony of guard- 
mounting is enacted in the street opposite the ware- 
house-windows. At that hour, the regiment on duty 
for twenty-four hours is relieved by a fresh one, and 
the details of the relief are exhibited before us. A rea;i- 
ment of Confederate volunteers present, in every re- 
spect, the appearance of an armed mob. They march 
to the prison, and are formed in line irrespective of 
size and equipments, and are armed with every descrip- 
tion of fire-arms. The right files, perhaps, possess Bel- 
gian muskets ; the next, the old flint-lock, with its 
capacious pan ; one carries a Minie rifle, the next a 
double-barrelled bird-gun, and so on to the extreme 
left of the line, — the left files of which of^en have none. 



OUE JAILEES. 137 

Not only do their arms present a variegated appear- 
ance, but tlie manner in wliich tliey are carried is 
equally odd and awkward. It is usual to see tliem at 
shoulder arms, order arms, present arms, and right 
shoulder shift, when standing in line at attention ; and 
the command for changing arms is only obeyed at the 
discretion of the soldier. 

But few are furnished with uniforms. On one occasion, 
when a detachment of the ^'Eichmond Blues" (Q. Jen- 
nings Wise, captain) was detailed to assist in guarding 
the warehouse, they scrupulously refused to appear in 
line, except in a body on the extreme right, or to associate 
with their rough -looking compeers. Without uniformity 
in either dress, size, or weapons, they present a grotesque 
and ludicrous appearance, the effect of which is not less- 
ened by a familiarity with their social habits and their 
conversational powers, unfolded to us as we cultivate an 
acquaintance with them — often for amusement — while 
they stand on post at the outer door. 

The ceremony of guard-mounting is briefly performed ; 
both officers and men appearing anxious for the tedious, 
if brief, duty to be completed. Accustomed as we have 
been to the multitudinous details of regimental and 
brigade guard-mounting, — an occasion when officers 
and privates vie with their comrades in exactness of 
military appearance, knowledge, and discipline, — we 
beheld with amusement and consolation the disordered 
rabble in the street before us. 

The Confederate officers attached to the prison have 
informed us, seemingly mortified at the daily exhibition 
before our windows, that the guards sent them by 
General Winder are always from new regiments just 
arrived in Richmond ; yet the 57th Regiment of Vir- 



138 PEISON-LIFE Af EICHMOND. 

ginia Volunteers, who from day to day guarded our 
prisons for three months, presented to us the same 
disordered, undisciplined jumble, at guard-mounting, 
as did the raw recruits referred to by the prison-officials. 
Possessing no information regarding the Confederate 
Army, except what we gather through the bars from 
the appearance of our guards, from the newspapers, and 
from an occasional transient companionship with a 
" Union" man placed in our warehouse, we cannot 
form a very exact estimate of the condition and dis- 
cipline of the Confederate Army ; yet we have been 
assured that discipline and drill are realities un- 
known in the major portion of that army now in the 
field. 

At drill-hour in a certain artillery-company now in 
the peninsula, the officer commanding is accustomed to 
address his men with, " Gentlemen, if you please, we 
will take a little exercise this morning;" and on one 
occasion the men went to him in a body with a re- 
monstrance against drill, concluding with, '' Captain, we 
won't drill a d — d bit : we came to fight, and, if we don't 
get one, we'll go home !" One morning we were startled 
by hearing a voice in the room, more loud than agree- 
able, exclaiming, '' Gentlemen, darn nice-looking set of 
officers in here. I like you all ! 'Spose there's a good 
many captains in here? I ought to have been a cap- 
tain. I drilled my company all they ever had. Gen- 
tlemen, I'm a Southern boy, I am; but I'm a gentle- 
man: — a'n't I, gentlemen?" Looking around, we found 
^he voice to proceed from our sentinel at the door, just 
relieved, and about half drunk, on a visit to one of us 
for whom he had conceived a violent and enthusiastic 
friendship, caused by the Federal officer presenting 



OUE JAILERS. 139 

liim with a silver half-dollar, — a curiosity in Eich- 
niond. 

Whiskey is the bane of discipline in the camps of our 
own volunteers; and the Confederate volunteer has 
access to it at pleasure. The street opposite our ware- 
house is often lined with double guards, as a punish- 
ment for their drunkenness and the mutinous conduct 
arising from it. Drinking to excess is not confined to 
the privates, as the dail}^ papers teem with instances of 
riotous intoxication on the part of Confederate officers. 

(Editorial, "Richmond Examiner," January 25, 1862.) 

''One cannot go amiss for whiskey in Eichmond. 
The curse and filth of it reek along the streets. It is 
eating into the vitals of society. It is killing our sol- 
diers, making brutes of our officers, 'stealing the 
brains' of our generals, taxing our army with endless 
court-martials, and sinking our great struggle into a 
pandemonium of revelry, recklessness, and mad license. 
Scarcely a night passes in Richmond but the sound of 
drunken riot may be heard on the streets, as the 
revellers pass. from, brothel to brothel, or reel along the 
streets seeking for shelter and home. One has only to 
go into the streets of the city to see hundreds of 
good-looking young men, wearing the uniform of their 
country, imbruted by liquor, converted into bar-room 
va2;abonds, or ruined perhaps forever." 

We have seen in one day, from the windows of our 
warehouse, situated in the suburbs of Richmond, more 
civilians, officers, and privates staggering drunk 
through the streets than may be seen on crowded 
Broadway in a week. General Bragg, at Pensacola, 



140 PRISON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

has issued an earnest address to his command, beseech- 
ing — not ordering — his officers to lessen this evil 
among themselves and men. And yet we are assured 
that with the scant company stores one or two barrels 
of whiskey are always included, rations of which are 
issued to the men daily. Previous to an engagement 
with the enemy, whiskey is often served to the men; 
and we found many of the privates, and an officer high 
in command, under the influence of liquor, on our march 
to and arrival at Leesburg, after the battle of Ball's 
Bhiff. 

The following letter, clipped from the '^Eichmond 
Dispatch," January 24, 1862, will afford an amusing 
illustration of this subject: — 

"Davis' Forb, Pbince William Co., Jan. 12, 18G2. 
'^In the absence of every thing in the shape of news, 
let me tell you how the 9th of January, the anniver- 
sary of the secession of Mississippi from the Federal 
Union, was spent in the camp of the 12th Mississippi 
Regiment. Early in the day the ground presented a 
scene of universal vivacity and good humor, which was 
in no manner decreased by the gallant Colonel Hughes 
orderino; the issuance of an extra ration of the ' be 
joyful' to all hands. In the evening, the regiment 
was serenaded by the excellent brass band belonging 
to the 6th Alabama, which was followed by speeches 
from several gentlemen of the regiment, full of eloquent 
and patriotic sentiments and trusting confidence in 
the future. But the crowning speech of all was made 
by our friend Joe Claiborne, of the Claiborne Guards. 
It was full of wit and humor. On being called to the 
stand, he commenced by congratulating the regiment 



OUR JAILERS. 141 

on their success in obtaining so gifted an orator to 
address them as himself. He then went on to state 
that he was going to raise a company for the war, — a 
company of elephantillery . That each member should be 
supplied with two elephants, — one to ride, and one as 
a body-guard. That there should be no duty and no 
roll-call. That every member should be supplied with 
H gallon of whiskey each morning, and it would be the 
duty of the officers to hunt up all members found sober 
before breakfast, put them in the guard-house, and 
keep them there until drunk, etc, =?«*** 

''Warren." 

The Confederate volunteer per se is a curiosity, pos- 
sessing a physique that indicates a perfect lack of in- 
terest in the great strife around him, and a conversational 
strain that excites laughter at its oddity and wonder 
at its ignorance, which, combined with his variegated 
wardrobe, renders him — at least, to us through the bars 
— an object of commiseration and of curiosity. The 
favorite amusement of many of us is to visit and con- 
verse with our sentinels at the outer door, — a practice 
strictly forbidden by orders never enforced. 

We have found them ignorant of the great issues of 
this war, and, when asked to explain iheir ideas of the 
principles for which the North is contending, the reply, 
without exception, has been " that the Yankees came 
to free the negroes, burn and steal their property, 
ravish the women, and desolate the entire country." 
When asked, "What causes you to think the ISTorth so 
violent in their hatred and intentions?" the reply 
invariably is, " Because cur Congressmen and the big 
folks have told me so," 



142 PRISON-LIFE at' EICHMOND. 

Wlien a regiment is on guard for the third or fourth 
day, the privates appear to realize with astonishment 
that we are neither hea^thens nor cannibals ; and the 
fact is clearly ascertained that, although taught to hate 
the '' Yankees" bitterly, it has required strong public 
opinion, and the fear of being drafted, to make them 
volunteer for the service. They are heartily sick of 
soldiering, and all '^want to go home" as badly as do 
the prisoners they are guarding. But few around our 
prison are able to read and write; and all betray 
an utter ignorance of the world's life around them. 
Yet, steeped in ignorance as most of them are, they 
are gradually discovering themselves to be mere ma- 
chines, moved by the wasting power of the mighty 
conspiracy, and, as the war progresses, they learn 
rapidly the nature of the principles which actuate the 
North. The life of a Confederate volunteer is by no 
means to be envied; though from its freedom from 
drill, and its copious supply of whiskey, it might be 
esteemed by many of our own volunteers a Utopia for 
soldiers, were it not for the scarcity of the necessaries 
of camp-life. The soldier's pay is absorbed ere the 
month is half gone, by the ravenous over-charges of 
the camp-sutler. 

But half furnished by the government with cloth- 
ing and food, boots, coats, and blankets, with molasses, 
sugar, and coffee at blockade-prices bought' from his 
private purse, his eleven dollars per month are soon 
absorbed. Clothing of all kinds is bought with avidity 
by the guards, at incredible prices. Many of them 
are in destitution, and correspondingly shamefaced ; for 
it is no unusual sight to observe them, after nightfall, 
stop every civilian wlio passes the warehouse, and beg 



OUR JAILERS. 143 

for a pittance of money. It is always promptly given, 
yet, in every instance, is accompanied with the remark, 
" That is all I have," — showing either a poverty of purse 
in the donor, or reluctance in bestowing the charity. 

Our guards have their amusements, which are not 
always of so base a nature as getting drunk and beg- 
ging alms of the passer-by. They have their national 
songs, their camp and scouting glees, with which they 
often enliven the midnight hours as they stand guard 
at the outer door over the imprisoned " Yanks." 

The other night, amidst the shuffling of feet and the 
incessant consumptive cough of one of his compeers, 
we heard a sentinel rolling out the notes of the follow- 
ing song : — 

"THE SOUTH IS COMING. 

"Early one morning in the month of July, 
We finished our crops and laid them all by : 
If you want to know the reason, I'll tell you why : — 
We are going to whip the Yankees, we'll do it or die. 

" True, they have three where we have but one ; 
But the beauty of it is, they are ignorant of a gun: — 
If you want to know the reason, I'll tell you why : — 
We are going to whip the Yankees, we'll do it or die. 

" They outnumber us, but we have the bravest; 
They have Old Lincoln, we Jeff Davis : 
If you want to know the reason, I'll tell you why : — 
We are going to whip the Yankees, we'll do it or die." 



IM PEISON-LIFE Af KICIIMOND, 




CHAPTER IX. 

OUR VISITORS. 

Often, whilst sitting reading, writing, or engaged in 
the amusements of cards, chess, &c., our attention is 
arrested by the officer of the day piloting through the 
crowded room a file of strangers, who stare at, and in 
some cases shrink from, us, as if they were treading the 
dangerous footpaths of an East Indian jungle. The 
dinner-hour, wlien we are resplendent with shining 
tin crockery and '' bread with beef," appears to be the 
favorite one for exhibiting us ; but at all hours and to 
all persons we are open for inspection, as, judging from 
the number visiting us daily, the mere request to 
General Winder provides the curious with written 
permits. 

When the prisoners first arrived from Manassas, no 
restrictions were placed upon the officer in command 
at the prisons, regarding visitors, and the public was 
allowed to enter indiscriminately, subject only to the 
usual law of order and decorum, — which did not pre- 
vent the prisoners from receiving foul and abusive 
language from the sight-seeing on the same floor with 
them. At the present time (December 1, 1861) we 
are not subjected to abusive language, but in lieu 
thereof receive insulting stares ad lihiturii and at 
hours when privacy is most desired. 

'' Stir up the beasts," though an inelegant, is still 



OUR VISITORS. 145 

an apt, illustration of the process performed daily by 
our jailers at the '^Yankee" menagerie at E,ichmond. 
As our visitors march through the room, different shades 
of impressions are plainly evidenced in their faces. A 
few seem- astonished at finding gentlemen — ^not jackals 
— in the building. Others appear to be wondering how 
seventy men can breathe life away in such a den of 
pine benches, tables, and cots, as that through which 
they are now piloted. Many have that expression to 
the manor-born first exhibited to us at Manassas, — 
a mixture of hatred and contempt, with neither predo- 
minating; whilst the great majority pass through the 
building regardless of every thing except the great fact, 
'' I have seen the Yankees." 

On one occasion, a man known to some of us as an 
exploded cotton-factor and subsequently slave-trader 
of Savannah, Georgia, and the baseness of whose mer- 
cantile reputation was only equalled by that of his 
private character, passed through our room : when he 
reached the door, he threw up his hands in holy horror, 
exclaiming, '' Poh ! how they stink !" 

This man, we understand, is a shining light on the 
hill-tops of '^ Secessia." 

We are occasionally introduced to visitors by the 
officer of the day ; and every introduction is invariably 
followed by the question, ''Did you expect to find 
us so united? What are you fighting for, if you 
don't mean to subjugate us?" None of them appear 
to understand the brilliant and almost startling spec- 
tacle of twenty millions of freemen spending their 
life-blood and treasure for the upholding of a prin- 
ciple, — the self-sustaining power of a republican govern- 
ment. These questions are not confined to transient 



146 PRISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

visitors permitted to enter the wareliouse, but are al- 
ways repeated by those whose acquaintance was formed 
previous to the war, who call at the prison-office and 
are allowed an interview with us in the presence of the 
Confederate officers. 

Our visitors may be classified as the military, clerical, 
and civilian, adding a mongrel species, — " our nightly 
visitor with a brick in his hat." Military visitors com- 
prise officers on furlough from camp-duty, as well as 
myriads of unattached uniforms that deck the streets 
and hotels of Eichmond. This latter class — military 
visitors — form the most obtrusive and numerous of 
our pests. We have them of every style and grade, 
from the starred general to the barred corporal, — from 
the balmy suavity of the ultra-refined to the brutish 
coarseness of the uniformed sot. We cannot avoid 
them, and are perforce compelled to endure their pre- 
sence and stare with an experienced equanimity. Nine- 
tenths of them, if allowed by us, would discuss the 
details of every engagement of the war, with its display 
of Southern valor and strategic skill and prowess : yet, 
by using a little judgment and tact, we convince them 
by silence how repugnant to prisoners of war must be 
a diatribe against their country from her enemies. Not 
so, however, with our nightly visitor ''with a brick in 
his hat," who may also be classed as a military visitor. 
He is proof against all suggestions as to the distasteful- 
ness of his remarks. He usually appears upon the 
scene about nine o'clock at night, and enters imme- 
diately into the subject with, ''What did you come 
down here for ?" " Abraham's bosom is yearning for 
vou, boys," &c. &c. 

We have become thoroughly accustomed to his visits, 



OUR VISITORS. 147 

and they are looked for as indicative of approaching 
fun, as he attacks and is replied to by " Hoosier" and 
other Western officers. He is a dry, droll old fellow, 
and is only discomfited by our Posey county Hoosier, 
who generally flanks the old gentleman by using his 
own ''tactics." 

The other night, in the midst of a most extravagant 
and burlesque harangue on the results of the war, to 
which we listened in deep silence, the old fellow tore 
the North asunder, hung its President, quartered the 
Abolitionists, and sunk eternally, with heavy expletives 
and blasting anathemas, the disrupted Union. " Gen- 
tlemen," says he, "the South will whip you; Abe 
Lincoln will cry enough. You are spending your money ; 
you are broke, — bankrupt. England will come in. 
France will " 

" Commissary, what mule are you going to kill for 
dinner to-morrow ?" interrupted a quiet voice from the 
corner. "We never heard what France intended to do ; 
but we do know what the old fellow did. He left us at 
his earliest opportunity, and we saw him no more that 
night. 

Our uniformed visitors are, conversationally, united 
to a man in the cause of the South ; and, were we not 
assured of the dissatisfied feeling in the rank and file 
of the Confederate Army, we might reasonably despair 
of the success of our government : yet even in the con- 
versation of the officers and the prominence of the ques- 
tion, '' Did you expect to find us so united ?" we find 
ground for suspicion of their weakness and irresolution 
regarding the future. 

We seldom receive clerical visitors, and, since the 
departure of our chaplain, the Eev. John W. Mines, — a 

10 



148 PKISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

brother-prisoner captured at Bull Kun, and wlio was 
released December 17, 1861, — we have had religious ser- 
vice on two occasions only. At the first the Eev. Dr. Wil- 
mer, late of Philadelphia, officiated ; the other was con- 
ducted by two preachers of the persuasion of ''Friends." 

We have been honored by several clerical visitors, 
who, apparently, were prompted by mere curiosity to 
see the ''Yankees," and who, during their visit, ignored 
the subject of religious instruction, and distastefully 
forced upon us their views regarding the status of 
public affiiirs, exhibiting as much rancor of heart 
towards us as is felt by the average of our civilian and 
military visitors. An exception to this feeling may 
be instanced, in the visit of two " Friends," Natha- 
niel C. Crenshaw and son, of Hanover county, Vir- 
ginia. We readily granted their request to hold reli- 
gious services with us, and drew quietly together in 
the western section of the room. After remaining in 
silence for some time, the elderly Friend arose and 
earnestly addressed us on the subject of " peace and 
good will towards all men," elaborating the doctrine of 
"non-combatants" with a gentleness of manner and 
persuasive earnestness that commanded attention, if 
not conviction. When he had concluded, his son arose 
and delivered a pathetic appeal on "P\;edemption." 
Upon the conclusion of the services, they remained in 
conversation with us for half an hour : yet neither, by 
tone or gesture, alluded once to the Eebellion or the 
North. Subsequently they again visited us, having 
for distribution a number of Testaments and rehgious 
books. 

In Januai 7, a Eichmond divine visited a Federal 
lieutenant confined in our warehouse, doinar so at the 



OUR VISITORS. 149 

request, tlirougli flag of truce, of the lieutenant's 
parents in the North. Scarcely a moment had elapsed 
after the clergyman's entrance into the room and 
the usual greetings, when he uttered the following 
language, in an embittered tDne:— "So you Yankees 
want to crush us out, do you?" and continued in 
this style for a considerable time, until checked by the 
young lieutenant, who plainly told him that a discussion 
of this subject behind the bars was inopportune and 
discourteous. 

Our civilian visitors are of all kinds and qualities, 
from the Eight Honorable John C. Breckinridge to 
the dirty assistant of our accomplished butcher, — all 
possessing the usual curiosity and conversational tone 
of their military compeers. Eesidents of Philadelphia 
will, perhaps, hear with interest that Eobert Tyler, 
Esq., son of Ex-President Tyler, and long a resident 
and public character of that city, visited the Yankee 
prisoners. His conversation related chiefly to the 
mobbish character of his exit from the North, de- 
precating such treatment under any circumstances. 
He was looked upon by the officers who knew his ante- 
cedents as manifesting considerable eff'rontery in 
assuming the privilege of visiting them : hence he 
received a cool, although courteous, treatment. 

Our worthy commissary is occasionally accom- 
panied by little scions of Eebeldom, boys of eight to 
twelve, who cause much amusement by their juvenile 
precocity in abusing by rule the Yankees and "Abe 
Lincoln." One of them possesses quite an unusual 
degree of talent, conversing with manliness and pro- 
priety, and now and then ti mating us to little songs of 
sentiment and ''Secessia." 



150 PEISON-LIFE AT KICHMOND. 

The great majority of civilian visitors are young 
friends of the youthful officers of the day, who, during 
their brief authority, transgress the ''prison-orders" 
by marching strangers through the officers' prison. 

The Hon. Mr. Ely attracts many visitors, curious 
to see their greatest trophy from the battle-field 
of Manassas, — ''a Yankee Congressman." As they 
march through the room, we hear them whispering, 
" Is that Ely ? Pshaw, no ! that can't be him. Why, 
he looks like Bill Steward, in Snyder's store : don't 
he?" ''Well, I declare, I never would have taken 
him for a Congressman." Many are introduced to 
him, and receive from Mr. Ely the usual bland cour- 
tesies of his nature and manner. 

We have been informed that during the early con- 
finement of the Manassas prisoners Mr. Ely was sub- 
jected to much annoyance from visitors whose dis- 
courtesy was only equalled by the amusing diversity 
of their opinions as to his fate. " You will be hung," 
said Koger A. Pryor, of Virginia. " You will be re- 
leased to-morrow," said the Hon. Mr. . " You 

will be tarred and feathered," said another high-priest 
of Eebeldom. "President Davis will invite you to 
dinner to-morrow, and Governor Letcher the next 
day : so make yourself easy," said a visitor apparently 
clothed with authority. But, alas ! there was no dinner 
for Mr. Ely until he was on the eve of being sent 
North; and dinner, with other good things, he was 
then plenteously provided with, the Bebel authorities, 
no doubt, being solicitous of his good opinions. 

We have received lady visitors only on two occasions, 
— the first occurring immediately subsequent to the 
capture of Mr^ssrs. Slidell and Mason, when two lady 



OUR VISITORS. 151 

connections of Mr. Mason came to view the Federal 
prisoners, being solicitous regarding the treatment of 
the Eebel emissaries at Fort Warren, and desirous of 
forming an estimate of their hardships and sufferings 
by ours. Their visit was brief and barren of incident. 
The other lady visitors were two daughters of an old 
gentleman confined " under suspicion" of Union senti- 
ments in our warehouse. He was quite sick, and per- 
mission was granted them to enter the building, where 
they found him upon his cot, propped up with pillows. 
By their exertions, the old gentleman was released, 
and returned honorably to his home. 

Amidst the mass of curiosity-mongers daily thronging 
around and in our warehouse, beholding distress and 
destitution in the quarters of the privates, and want of 
the necessary comforts and conveniences of life among 
the Federal officers, we have never yet welcomed what 
was most needed, — a G;od S imaritan visitor. 



152 PRISON-LIFE 'AT RICHMOND. 




CHAPTER X. 



PRISON-COMPANIONS. 



The Old Tobacco Warehouse, 
Tuesday night, Feb. 18, 1862. 

Let me greet you to-night, companions in captivity, 
as I gather these scenes around me to enrich our 
memories in after-years. '' Olden times" will be our 
own, and the impress of our future life will bear 
the flow and flash of thought to these bare walls and 
rusty bars. The mind is warring somewhat with the 
heart; for, though all are eager for the strife of the 
outer world, we cannot part from this old warehouse 
without regret, — ay, almost sadness. 

As years roll on, these feelings will grow into remi- 
niscences of this spot : its varied experiences, its che- 
rished associations, centring here to-night, will make 
these cheerless walls the Mecca of our thoughts in 
distant years. 

Glancing around the room, how busy and varied is 
the scene presented to the eye! 

Yonder group, with pale faces, v^hom we greeted 
but a few days since, are the hostages released from a 
felon -cell in Richmond jail. With what a warmth of 
heart, blended with admiration, we welcomed them once 
more to our companionship! For months suffering 
every privation and indignity of felon-confinement, 
deprived of every comfort of life, tyrannized over by 



PKISON-COLPANIONS. 155 

a sottisli brute having tliem in charge, with death 
hanging hourly over them, how nobly they have sus- 
tained the honor of their country ! l^ot a murmur 
escaped them; and when General AVinder, in whose 
heart centred hatred and harshness towards them, 
with his brutish nonchalance of manner, said to them, 
''Gentlemen, can I do any thing for you?" mark the 
dignity of Colonel Lee's reply: — ''Sir, we are in the 
hands of your government." 

Our social intercourse with them has been rendered 
doubly pleasant by their earnest and sincere cordiality. 
They came from jail-walls w^ith a buoyant and free 
open-heartedness of manner that endeared them to us 
and infused a renewed cheerfulness into our little band, 
making the old room a perfect picture of domestic, almost 
wanton, sociality. 

Near the hostages, bending over the rough pine 
table, engaged in chess, sit Lieutenant Wm. E. Mer- 
rill and Samuel A. Pancoast. 

Lieutenant Merrill is a graduate of West Point, and 
attached to the Engineer Corps of the United States 
Army, and has been in the Tobacco "Warehouse since 
September, '61. We shall not soon forget his clear, 
practical intelligence, and earnest though quiet humor, 
which rendered him a choice companion and a welcome 
aid in our varied and sometimes eccentric resources for 
amusement behind the bars. 

Samuel A. Pancoast, of Bloom ery Furnace, Hamp- 
shire county, Virginia, is a brother of Dr. Joseph 
Pancoast, the celebrated surgeon and Professor of Ana- 
tomy at the Jefferson College in Philadelphia. Mr. 
Pancoast w^as arrested at his home " under suspicion" 
of Union sentiments, and, although a non-combatant, — 



154 PRISON-LIFE a: eichmond. 

being of the persuasion of ''Friends,"— ^he was incar- 
cerated in our midst, where his 23lcasant smile and 
thorough enjoyment of our pursuits and pastimes 
caused him to be a welcome addition to our exiled 
band. His portly person and jovial laugh are found 
and heard wherever cheerful good nature and prison - 
sports centre and expand. To him are we indebted for 
that valued appendix of our merry Christmas, — the 
receipt for egg-nog, — egg-nog without milk and with- 
out intoxication. 

To the left of the chess-players may be seen a euchre- 
party. For months they have gathered together 
in that spot in the evening, and drawn from the harm- 
less sport a relief from prison -tediousness. Approach 
them, and you will find their every energy bent upon 
the game. Isolated in this old warehouse, with intellect 
and feeling catching but a flash of the vigor and sun- 
shine of the outer world, at this hour they centre their 
faculties in the subtleties of the game before them. 
Their names are Captains Todd and Williams, Lieu- 
tenants Hooper and Vassall. 

Captain Todd, of the Lincoln Cavalry, is, we under- 
stand, a distant connection of Mrs. President Lincoln 
He is an assiduous " euchre"-player, and expects ay 
early exchange. 

Looking at the partner of Captain Todd, we see 
before us the type of manliness and honor, — Captain 
Eeuben Williams, of Warsaw, Indiana, — whose warm 
heart, with its earnest feelings and genuine friendships, 
has caused' him to be respected and loved by all who 
nave enjoyed the privilege of his intimate association. 
He possesses a great fund of humor, and, when aroused 
by the spirit of universal frolic so often excited among 



PRISON-COMPANI i)NS. 155 

US, is the drollest of the droll, tlie merriest of the 
merry. 

Another of the euchre-party is Lieutenant Chas. M. 
Hooper, of Philadelphia, who perhaps, in a few moments, 
will be nervously startled from his seat by the cry, 
" Hooper, letters!" Ho is always the happy recipient 
of a large mail from home, and, being constantly on 
the qui vive for its arrival, our wags often resort to a 
false alarm to amuse themselves by his vigorous antici- 
pation of the mail. Lieutenant Hooper has acquired 
among us an enviable reputation for firmness of cha- 
racter, evidenced by his fearless rebuke of a Federal 
officer who, the other night, in the presence of a 
Confederate officer of the post, reflected upon the Ad- 
ministration at Washington. The lieutenant plainly 
told him that he had mistaken his vocation, — that he 
should be ''an officer in the Confederate, not the 
Federal, army." The sentiments of Lieutenant Hooper 
are to be admired, as the expression of similar ones 
before Confederate officers has sent the speakers to 
Tuscaloosa and New Orleans. Lieutenant Hooper is 
a warm, devoted friend and a gallant and accom- 
plished soldier. His partner. Lieutenant Bernard B. 
Vassall, of Massachusetts, is a jovial, hearty gentleman, 
whose pleasant manners add to the sociality of our 
prison-life. 

Over in the corner sit a party playing dominoes. It 
is composed of some of our choicest spirits, — ''Bar- 
nacles" the sea-dog, "Wax" the dry and odd, "Hodge" 
the steadfast, and " our Talker," — all of whom, though 
occupying the position of stewards, add zest to the 
evening's amusements. Barnacles is an old quarter- 
master in the United States Navy. His rolling gait 



156 PEISCN-LIFE A*r EICHMOND. 

and blunt manners, with liis good heart and ofF-handea 
sincerity, make him, with some of us, a pet, rough as 
he is. Poor Barnacles, after serving for some months 
in Norfolk jail, was transferred to Pachmond. He has 
been confined longer than any other in the warehouse, 
and only lately seems to have realized that release was 
possible. When the transports left Fort Warren with 
Confederate prisoners, Barnacles became our weather- 
gage. Instead of, '^ I say, Wabash ! any news about 
exchange?" the cry became, ''Hallo, Bunsby! how's 
the wind ?" and Jack always knew ; for that transport 
to him was freighted with priceless liberty. 

'' Wax" is an oddity, gifted with wit dry and droll, 
and an irresistible desire for sly jokes and constant sells. 
He has become the life and spirit of Kerns's band of 
brotherhood and humor, called the ''Lucretia Mott 
Club." It is summoned together, generally, at eight 
o'clock P.M.; and woe be to the unlucky object of their 
pungent witticisms. A member of the club, whose 
membership is unsuspected by those around him, 
quietly takes a seat beside the devoted victim, and 
proceeds to converse upon the '' hobby" (and who is 
without one?) of the innocent devotee. Silently other 
members of the gang gather around. One by one, sug- 
gestive questions are asked, elucidations called for, ex- 
travagant effects deduced from simple causes, natural 
deductions twisted into burlesque channels, and the 
poor victim is in a perfect heat of discourse and argu- 
ment, — when perchance he mentions a person's name. 
He is then immediately asked, " Was he a hard 
drinker?" "Is he a man of large family?" and the 
plot is exploded, for we all know that these inquiries 
are the passwords of the '' Lucretia Mott Club." 



PRISON-COMPANIONS. 157 

''Hodge the steadfast" — so called fron his devoted 
attachment to his officers and his mess — is a quiet, un- 
obtrusive, and attentive steward, who has gained the 
good will and friendship of all around him. 

''Our Talker" came to us from the privates' floor, 
perfectly electrical in the flash of his conversational 
powers. Morning, noon, and night were his abilities 
displayed. Kemedy, or even mitigation, of our sufferings 
seemed impossible. Finally the "Lucretia Mott Club" 
took him in hand, establishing alternate "reliefs" to 
listen to him. He stood it bravely for a while, but at 
last succumbed. Numbers overpowered him; and he 
is now only a moderate talker. 

In the centre of the room stand Glover and 
"Hoosier," apparently in excited altercation. Between 
these two there is always an "irrepressible conflict." 
They are fitted for each other. Six feet, bony, and 
muscular, their combat would be a fearful one. "VVe 
hear "Hoosier's" voice: — "ISTow, I tell you, Tom, you 
have forfeited all claim to your bargain. I told you I'd 
let you alone; but you broke the stipulation not to 
wink at me: so prepare to be throttled." "Now, 
Hoosier," says Tom, "you broke it first." "It won't 
do, Tom: so here goes!" And at it they go, twist- 
ing, WTithing, arm-locked and wall-locked, over benches, 
beds, and tables, on the floor, in the corners, wash- 
room, and tobacco-presses, until, from complete exhaus- 
tion, an armistice is declared, w]iich will last perhaps 
ten minutes. 

Lieutenant B. F. Hancock, of Gosport, Indiana, — fa- 
miliarly known as "Hoosier," — 's esteemed by us a per- 
fect specimen of a hardy and honest son of the West. 
None of us will £ver forget his open-hoartedness of 



158 PRISOl^-LIFE AT* llICHMOIsD. 

character. To him are we always indebted for the dis- 
comfiture of our nightly visitor 'Svith a brick in his 
hat," whom he fearlessly attacks and invariably de- 
feats. 

Near the centre of the room stands the mess- table 
of the 20th Massachusetts. Around it, quietly engaged 
in a game of whist, sit Dr. E^evere, Lieutenants J. E. 
Greene, George B. Perry, and J. Harris Hooper. 

E. H. H. Eevere, Assistant Surgeon of the 20th Regi- 
ment Massachusetts Volunteers, the only surgeon upon 
the battle-field of Ball's Blufi", has acquired and merited 
our hearty esteem. His coolness and self-possession 
upon the battle-field in a position where dead and dying 
were falling around him, during which he unflinch- 
ingly maintained his post, have deservedly honored him 
with an enviable reputation for personal courage and 
high qualification as a surgeon upon the field of battle. 

Adjutant Charles L. Pierson, of Salem, Massachusetts, 
is esteemed by us for his persistent efforts in behalf of 
the hostages, and his constant and finally successful 
attempts to visit them in their cell at the jail. He 
left us on the 25th of January; and we have since 
heard that his earnest efforts for the amelioration of 
the treatment of the hosta2;es have resulted in obtain- 
ing from the United States War Department a promise 
of speedy attention to their case. 

Lieutenant J. E. Greene, of Msssachusetts, the present 
Vice-President of the R. P. A., whose pleasant smile and 
quiet, genuine sociality make him a valued addition to 
our evening circle, may be seen, absorbed in the game, 
and throwing an earnestness of manner into its details 
that marks him as one of our most accomplished whist- 
phiyers. He has acquired a popularity as a gentleman 



TEISON-COMPANIONS. 159 

and as an officer of the Association which will outlive 
the term of his confinement in the warehouse. 

Lieutenant George B. Perry, of Boston, has a fine, 
manly face and form, and an unobtrusive, gentlemanly 
manner, beneath which, to those who know him well, 
lie some of the best and noblest impulses of man's 
nature. 

Lieutenant J. Harris Hooper, of Boston, is a fit repre- 
sentative from the Old Bay State. Genuine, frank, and 
honest-hearted, we shall not soon forget the many hours 
that his conversation rendered less gloomy and drear 
within the old walls. 

Beside the "mess-table" of the 20th Massachusetts 
Eegiment, engaged in reading, sits Captain John 
Markoe, of Philadelphia, captured at Ball's Blufi". He 
is quite young, yet with a solid and compact frame, 
and a fine open countenance, upon which is stamped 
the index of his character, honor, intelligence, courage. 
Commanding at Ball's Blufi* the post of danger, — the 
extreme left, — and holding that portion of the field with 
stubborn bravery, wounded severely, overpowered by 
numbers, he yielded not until he stood alone within 
the lines of the enemy. His character for gallantry 
upon the field is only equalled by the innate modesty 
of his nature, which shrinks from the public recogni- 
tion of its merit. Brave, noble, and modest, the career 
of Captain Markoe will be one marked in the history 
of this war. 

Opposite to our ''mess" are two officers engaged in a 
game of cribbage, — Captain Banning and Lieutenant 
Burd. 

Captain Warren L. Lanning, of Troy, New York, 
is a sociable, obliging officer, to whom we refer for 



160 PRISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

decision of all matters in dispute relative to the Mexi- 
can War, — through which he fought and bled under 
General Taylor. He is occasionally troubled by the 
^'Lucretia Mott Club." 

Lieutenant Charles H. Burd, of Belfast, Maine, was 
wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Manassas. 
He was struck by a musket-ball in the upper portion 
of the forehead, which entered the brain and, no doubt, 
still remains there. Lieutenant Burd has suffered very 
much from his wound, and has been afflicted with 
jaundice and other diseases since his captivity, but is 
now one of the blithest and most buoyant of our com- 
panions, entering thoroughly into the roughest and 
wildest of prison-sports. It is an affecting sight to see 
him moving around the room, the gayest of the gay, 
with a hole in his head sufficiently large to admit the 
little finger. He is very popular, not only from the 
pleasing exuberance of his spirits, but from the inde- 
pendence of his character and his uncompromising hos- 
tility to our Confederate jailers.* 

Standing beside the ''cribbage"-party may be seen 
Lieutenant George W. Kenny, of Philadelphia, whose 
youthful form and face contrast pleasingly with the 
many rough and battle-worn countenances around 
him. Lieutenant Kenny is to be admired for his con- 
sistent yet cheerful religious feelings and observances, 
and for the high reputation he has earned for courage 
upon the battle-field of Ball's Bluff. 

* When Lieutenant Burd was released, an operation was per- 
formed upon his head at Fortress Monroe, and portions of a 
musket-hall were extractri which had lain upon his brain for 
seven months. 



PEISON-COMPANIONS. 161 

Moving restlessly around the room, tapping tliis one 
and that one on the shoulder, peering into a hand of 
cards, dropping a sly remark, and here and there seat- 
ing himself, but only for a moment, may be seen 
Lieutenant Charles A. Freeman, of Hancock county, 
Virginia, captured in Western Virginia by the "Bush- 
whackers." He is an excellent and adroit originator of 
merriment, basing his fabric of drolleries upon the 
slightest thread, but always creating amusement. He 
is much liked for his fine social qualities. 

His brother in misfortune, Lieutenant C. B. Hall, of 
Wellsburg, Virginia, — captured also by the '^ Bush- 
whackers," — is at the south end of the room, the cen- 
tral figure in a large group who are intent upon the 
laughter-provoking game of ''Muggins." We hear 
their loud roars of merriment, and see occasionally, 
through the crowd, faces marked by burnt cork in 
every conceivable method of tattooing, — this being the 
punishment for the loss of a game. Lieutenant Hall is 
peculiarly unfortunate, and seldom escapes the penalty 
of a blacked face. He is another whose warmth of 
character and quiet humor have assisted in making 
the old room convivial and habitable. 

Opposite to us stands the ''Scotch mess"-table, 
at which are seated Lieutenants John White and 
Robert Campbell, engaged in their national games of 
cards. They are quiet and unobtrusive participants in 
the general sociality of the evening. 

To the left of "our mess," which is situated in the 
northwest corner of the room, is the " mess" of the 
15th Eegiment Massachusetts Volunteers. Seated at it 
are Captains Studley and Simonds. 

Captain John M. Studley, of Worcester, Massachu- 



162 PEISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

setts, is regarded as one of the most intelligent officers 
of his regiment, and is much liked by the prisoners. 

Captain Clark S. Simonds, of Fitchburg, Massachu- 
setts, is a man of honest, brusque manners, and possesses 
many qualities that call for esteem and admiration. 

Amidst the busy hum and general enjoyment of the 
evening, we miss sadly those warm hearts and boon- 
companions from whom we have parted during our 
imprisonment. Some of them are '^home," others in 
the far South; but to-night we recall their companion- 
ship with us, and Fancy groups them in their old re- 
membered places round the room. Do we not all 
remember our chaplain, the Rev. John W. Mines, of 
Bath, Maine, whose genial, hearty good nature illumined 
our old walls, and whose fine intellect furnished us 
with food for religious meditation ? And also Captain 
Thomas Cox, Jr., of Ohio, — the rough, the brave, the 
true soldier and friend ? And do we not blend the re- 
membrance of him with Lieutenant William Dickinson, 
of Connecticut, whose quiet suggestive humor and 
inexhaustible stories so often gave prison-life a tint of 
the outer world? And Lieutenant J. W. Hart, of 
Attica, Indiana, whose pungent anecdotes were ever 
sought for and uproariously appreciated, — " Hart on 
Exchange," — can we ever forget him, his hearty laugh, 
his nervous jocularity, his imperturbable good nature? 
To none are we more indebted for our life of merri- 
ment than to him ; and yet we value him not only for 
his spirit of wit and humor, but as a gentleman of fin© 
impulses, generous and genuine in all his walks of life. 



HOMEWAED BOUND. 163 



CHAPTER XL ^:^4d^ 

HOMEWARD BOUND. 

On the 19th of February, 1862, we were informed 
that the Confederate Secretary of War had issued an 
order releasing on parole all the Federal prisoners in 
the South. The information came to us throudi the 
commandant of the prison, and we hailed it with glad 
hearts filled with joyous, although subdued, emotions. 
Could it be possible that at last the cherished hope of 
many long, weary months was to be realized? — that 
these old walls would frown no longer upon us ? — that 
our far-distant and loved homes in the land of our flag 
would see u;^ once more? The thought itself was 
freighted with the reward for our lengthy imprison- 
ment and sufi'erings. 

The commandant of the post could give us no in- 
formation as to the day of our release. '' It might be 
to-morrow, or not until next week," was his reply to 
the earnest questioners. Yet, notwithstanding, many 
industrious packers might be seen stowing away their 
sparse wardrobe into carpet-bags, boxes, and cotton 
bags manufactured for the purpose. Not a countenance 
within the room but what was illumined by the glad 
tidings. It seemed as if the heart came leaping to the 
eye ; for glad voices and sparkling faces were heard and 
seen where dull apathy and silent unconcern prevailed 
before. The 19th of February was spent in discussing 

11 



164 PRISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

tlie causes of the Confederate policy in paroling the 
prisoners, and its efi'ects upon our government. During 
the day we determined upon the nature of a parole 
that we were willing to sign, and procured means to 
caution our men regarding signing any parole except 
an honorable and the usual military one. 

Two days passed on, and the heart became almost 
sick with hope deferred. At last, on the morning of 
the 22d, we were visited by the commandant, and in- 
formed that, if lue were ready, the flag-of- truce boat 
would leave for Newport News at six o'clock p.m. Now 
came the bona fide universal preparations. We were 
to leave the old warehouse without an inmate, except 
our esteemed companion, Samuel A. Pancoast. He 
would be the sole remaining representative of the 
Richmond Prison Association. 

Trunks, bags, and bundles were packed and stowed 
nicely in a corner of the room, for transportation, by 
nine o'clock in the mornino;. We would not leave until 
six P.M.; and how long and dreary seemed the hours ! 

During the day a scene occurred to enliven and mark 
our last day in Richmond prison. A few days before, 
the men had received from the United States govern- 
ment complete suits of uniform, and, in their delight 
at having new clothes and at going home, they became 
wildly generous. 

A hundred negroes had clustered around the prison 
to see '' Massa Yankee go home;" and the men com- 
menced throwing their old clothes to them, which 
created a furor of excitement. Old, gray-headed 
darkeys, young children, and women, were running 
frantically from one window to another, to catch a 
stray article as it was flung into the street, which was 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 165 

very muddy, and often received a half-dozen scramblers 
sprawling in its mud. The negro crowd increased, and 
the tumult of the scene extended to all the prisons, — 
which caused the officer of the day to draw his sword 
and rush into the crowd, laying about him vigorously 
with the flat of the blade ; but to no purpose, — for tho 
poor negroes knew the value of a woollen shirt or pair 
of pantaloons, and could not be driven away until the 
men had exhausted their supply of old clothing. 

At ten o'clock a.m., the clerk of the prison entered 
the room with the following written parole, which was 
signed by the officers, and subsequently by the men : — 

*' We, the undersigned, in the service of the United States, pri- 
soners of war, pledge our word of honor that we will not, by arms, 
information, or otherwise, during the existence of hostilities be- 
tween the United States and the Confederate States of America, aid 
or abet the enemies of the said Confederate States, or any of them, 
in any form or manner, until released or exchanged. 

" Given at Richmond, this 22d day of February, 1862." 

Six o'clock came at last, and the order to march 
came v/ith it. As we passed out of the warehouse, 
each one grasping Mr. Pancoast by the hand, — with 
whom all had left their surplus baggage, beds, and tin 
crockery, — we felt a sad reluctance to leave him, the 
lonely occupant of the immense building which had so 
lately resounded with the hum and tumult of two 
hundred and fifty prisoners of war. AVe charged 
him to see distributed among the destitute Union 
prisoners in Richmond the camp-cots and other articles 
left behind us. 

But few citizens of Richmond had collected to see the 
last of the ''Yankees," and the crowd around the doors 
was composed mainly of negroes and children, — forming 



166 PEISON-LIFE AT EICHMOND. 

a Btrange contrast to our triumphal entrance into the 
city. 

"We found the privates drawn up in line along the 
pavement, and, as we marched past them, we could see 
a genuine pleasure in the faces of the men, caused by 
the release of their officers. All were buoyant and ex- 
cited, and the march to the boat was a scene of mutual 
congratulations and gladness among men and officers. 
A few moments brought us to the boat, where we were 
densely packed, — the privates on the decks, the officers 
in the cabin. The latter was very small, and scarcely 
affiarded room to stand, and none to lie down, one-half 
of the space being occupied by our baggage. 

As we started from the wharf, three hearty cheers, 
as a last farewell to our old tobacco warehouse, were 
given with a lusty will, and we parted from the Eebel 
city, hoping soon to return under happier auspices. 

It was now quite dark, and the rain commenced to 
fall, rendering the situation of the privates on deck 
uncomfortable and, from their long confinement, dan- 
gerous. The cabin-berths soon became filled with sick 
privates, and the close, contracted room became more 
disagreeable than the exposed decks. 

At eleven o'clock at night, preparation was made 
for supper, which we eagerly anticipated, having eaten 
nothing since twelve o'clock m. When prepared, the 
sliding-doors separating the close cabin into two com- 
partments were unceremoniously drawn together, and 
our worthy jailers. Captain Godwin and Lieutenant 
Emack, with four or five invited guests. Confederate 
officers, quietly took their seats, without extending the 
courtesy of an invitation to Colonels Lee and Cogswell, 
or any of us. Another illustration of the chivalric fabric 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 167 

of tlie Eebellion, — '^ the polished amenities of civilized 
life." Their meal ended, a sparse supply was furnished 
us, which we heartily enjoyed; for, as our ''Hoosier" 
said, '' Eat away, boys : every mouthful lessens the 
supply for their army." 

Supper over, we searcho'd for, but found not, sleep- 
ing-accommodations. Some lay upon the floor, over 
the baggage, and on the settees, whilst others played 
whist, euchre, &c. the entire night, unable to sleep, for 
want of room, — our courteous jailers in the mean time 
snoring melodiously in their comfortable berths ; and 
so the night passed away. As the morning broke, the 
scene on deck was a pitiful one : the men lay huddled 
together, shivering with cold, and those on the upper 
deck pelted and drenched with the falling rain ; but 
amidst it all might be seen bright, expectant faces, 
with cheerful smile and speech. Poor fellows ! they 
knew how soon their sufferings would be ended ; yet 
impatience seemed the characteristic of all. 

The pilot, captain, crew, and even the engineers and 
negro waiters, were pestered constantly by the inquiry, 
*' How far is it to Newport News ?" and, when an- 
swered, they seei^ed never satisfied, except by com- 
parison each with his neighbor of the replies they 
had received. Onward we sped, and at last the black 
hulls of the Jamestown and Patrick Henry, Confede- 
rate steamers, appeared in sight. Beyond them might 
be seen a small speck upon the water, which eager 
eyes soon discovered to be the Federal flag-of- truce 
boat. The fact was announced on the deck and 
through the cabins, and we all crowded to see once 
more the flag towards which our hearts yearned, and 
around which gathers the pride of every true soldier's 



168 PRISON-LIFE AT RICHMOND. 

heart. As tlie breeze opened its clierislied folds, two 
hundred and fifty voices shouted and roared with wild 
enthusiasm ; cheer after cheer" was given, and continued 
until, from exhaustion, the tumult of gladness became 
silenced. 

The two boats were tied together. The Confederate 
officer handed to the Federal officer a list of names of 
those privates released ; and, as each name was called, 
the owner passed with a skip and a jump upon the 
National steamer, where he soon appeared on the 
upper deck with an immense chunk of bread and ham, 
holding it tantalizingly up to his companions remain- 
ing on board the Pvebel boat, ofttimes with the remark, 
'' No mule-meat about this, boys." The privates' list 
being concluded, that of the officers was called. As 
each name was announced, the officer passed upon the 
United States steamer, stopping to grasp, cordially, the 
hands of the Federal officers. 

At last all were aboard, and we dashed down the 
river. Newport News was reached. The shore for 
miles was lined with soldiers, who greeted us with 
loud huzzas and cheer upon cheer. The rigging of 
the ill-fated Cumberland and Con stress was filled with 
their stalwart crews, who added lustily to the enthu- 
siastic greeting. 

We replied until fatigue and hoarseness rendered us 
incapable of further exertion. 

We arrived at Fortress Monroe on the 23d of Febru- 
ary, 1862, having been confined by the Eebels four 
months. 



THE RICHMOND PRISON ASSOCIATION.' 1G9 




CHAPTEB XII. 

THE RICHMOND PRISON ASSOCIATION. 

The Pdclimond Prison Association originated from 
tlie necessity of an organized institution through which 
might be perpetuated the incidents of our imprison- 
ment, its sufferings and employments ; yet, owing to 
the removal of many of its prominent officers farther 
South, to their homes, and, in some sad instances, by 
death, with the culpable negligence of others, the As- 
sociation is without a written record. 

A few days subsequent to the arrival of the Federal 
prisoners of war from Manassas, the Association was 
organized, with the election of a President, Treasurer, 
Secretary, and Sergeant-at-Arms. As our imprison- 
ment lengthened, new offices were created, vacancies 
filled, and branches of the Association formed in differ- 
ent localities in the South. 

On the 10th of September, 1861, thirty-one officers 
were sent to Charleston, South Carolina ; on the 21st, 
three were sent to New Orleans ; and on the 22d of 
November, twenty were sent to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, — 
all of whom evinced an affection for their Alma Mater 
by organizing harmonious branches of the Pi,. P. A. 

The members honored from time to time by election 
to the different offices of the Association are as follow, 
viz. : — 



170 PEISON-LIFE A* EICHMOND. 

The Hon. Alfred Ely, M.C., from Rochester, N.Y., President. 
Captain Thomas Cox, Jr., of Cincinnati, Ohio, Vice-President. 

" Ralph Hunt, of Springfield, Ohio, " 

Lieutenant J. F. Greene, of North Brookfield, Mass., " 

*' Charles Walters, of Bridgeport, Conn., Treasurer. 

Rev. George ^Y. Dodge, of Warren, R.I., Secretary. 

Lieutenant R. A. Goodenough, of New York City, '* 

Alfred Taylor, Esq., of Cincinnati, Ohio, " 

Rev. John F. Mines, of Bath, Maine, Sergt.-at-Arms. 

Lieutenant William C. Harris, of Philadelphia, Pa., " 

** J. W. Hart, of Attica, Ind., Page. 

Adjutant Charles L. Pierson, of Salem, Mass., " 

The members of the Association included all Federal 
officers prisoners of war, Union men, and, in some few- 
instances, civilians '* under suspicion" of Union senti- 
ments, who have been confined in the Federal officers' 
prison from the commencement of hostilities to the ex- 
piration of our imprisonment, February 22, 1862. 

The following table will show their names, rank, and 
regiments, with remarks showing the date of release or 
removal from the old Tobacco Warehouse in Eichmond. 



THE RICHMOND PEISON ASSOCIATION. 



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